Over 68 pc candidates forfeit security deposit in 43 seats across Jammu, highest of PDP

Several candidates of J&K Apni Party, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), both factions of National Panthers Party along with eight candidates of the Congress and one of the BJP also forfeited their security deposits, the constituency-wise results released by the Election Commission said.

Incidentally, 164 of the total 356 candidates in the fray from the 43 assembly seats of Jammu region got less votes than none of the above (NOTA), which gives an option to voters to reject all candidates in a constituency.

The National Conference (NC)-Congress coalition, including the CPI(M), swept the first assembly elections post-abrogation of Article 370 by winning 49 seats with the regional party gaining a total of 42 seats.While NC tally included seven seats in the Jammu region, the Congress won one seat in Jammu and five seats in Kashmir. The CPI(M) has won one seat, which is in Kashmir.

The BJP emerged the second largest party after the NC by winning 29 seats -- all in the Jammu region -- which is its best-ever performance. An analysis of the 43 results of the Jammu region revealed that out of 356 candidates in the fray, 244 have forfeited their security deposits.

Barring Qamar Hussain from Thanamandi and Imtiaz Ahmed Shan from Banihal who had managed to save their security deposit by getting 21,986 and 27,018 votes respectively, none of the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP's) 30 other candidates were able to secure their deposits. Majority of them have even got less votes than the NOTA.

Thanamandi seat was won by NC rebel candidate Muzaffar Iqbal Khan by defeating his nearest rival Mohd Iqbal Malik of the BJP by a margin of 6,179 votes. Khan polled 32,645 votes against Malik's 26,466 while PDP's Hussain, a former MLA, ended up a distant third.

Similarly, the Banihal seat was won by NC's Sajjad Shaheen who defeated former state Congress president and former minister Vikar Rasool Wani by a margin of 6,110 votes after bagging 27,018 votes. Shan ended up third while BJP's Mohd Saleem Bhat along with four others lost their security deposits.

Prominent faces among the PDP who lost their security deposit included former MLC Firdous Ahmad Tak who only got 997 votes out of total 60,524 polled votes in Kishtwar constituency. The BJP's lone woman face Shagun Parihar defeated former NC minister Sajjad Kitchloo by a slender margin of over 500 votes on Kishtwar. Parihar, whose father and uncle were killed by terrorists in November 2018, polled 29,053 votes.

The BSP has fielded over two dozen candidates across Jammu region but barring its Kathua candidate Sandeep Majotra none of them made any impact on the ground. Majotra finished runner up from the constituency losing to BJP's Bharat Bhushan by a margin of 12,117 votes after securing 33,827 votes.

Majority of the BSP leaders also polled less votes than NOTA. Overall, the votes polled by NOTA edged past 164 candidates across the 43 constituencies of the Jammu region. The DPAP, facing its first assembly election after being formed by former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in September 2022, also failed to woo the voters. Its senior leader and former minister Abdul Majid Wani ended up fourth from Doda by getting only 10,027 votes, which is way short of maximum requirement to save the security deposit.

The seat was won by district development council member Mehraj Malik for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which has opened its account for the first time in the J&K assembly. Malik polled 23,228 votes, defeating BJP's Ganjay Singh by a margin of 4,538 votes. NC leader and former minister Khalid Najib Suharwardy was third and narrowly saved his security deposit by getting 13,334 votes.

Several other AAP and DPAP candidates not only lost their security deposit but also secured less votes than NOTA. Former minister and J&K Apni Party leader Manjit Singh managed to save his security deposit by getting 13,161 votes and ending up third in Vijaypur constituency which was retained by former BJP minister Chander Prakash Ganga who got 32,859 votes against NC's Rajesh Kumar Pargotra's 13,819 votes.

However, Singh' other colleagues were not lucky to save their deposits and were among the 164 candidates who scored less than the votes polled by NOTA. Most of the 123 independents also failed to make a mark with the majority of them ending up forfeiting their security deposits. However, the NC rebel candidates Choudhary Mohammad Akram (Surankote), Payare Lal Sharma (Inderwal), Rameshwar Singh (Bani) and Congress rebel candidate Satish Sharma (Chhamb) won their seats by defeating their rivals.