Jammu Kashmir State Profile: Election schedule for 90 seats of Jammu Kashmir announced today, know how the results have been in the previous elections

The wait for assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir is now coming to an end. The Election Commission is scheduled to hold a press conference at 3 pm today in which the election schedule for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections is to be announced. Ever since the state was reorganized and made a Union Territory in 2019, the political parties of Jammu and Kashmir were demanding early assembly elections and restoration of full statehood. The Supreme Court had also directed the Election Commission to conduct the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September.

In these elections, which are going to be held for the first time after Ladakh was made a separate union territory, the people of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will elect their representatives for 90 assembly seats. Before 2019, Jammu and Kashmir used to be a full state and then votes were cast for 87 assembly seats. How have been the previous election results of Jammu and Kashmir?

Before the reorganization of the state, elections for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly were last held in the year 2014. Then about 65 percent voting took place for the 87 seats of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Talking about the election results, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got the highest 23 percent votes but the party was second after the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with 25 seats. The PDP then emerged as the largest party by winning 28 seats with 22.7 percent vote share but fell short of the magic figure of 44 needed for a majority.

The National Conference led by Dr Farooq Abdullah won 15 seats with 20.8 percent vote share, Congress won 12 seats with 18 percent vote share. People’s Conference managed to win two seats with 1.9 percent vote share, CPIM managed to win one seat with less than one percent vote share. Then a PDF candidate also won and three independents also managed to reach the assembly. No single party got a clear majority. The two biggest parties PDP and BJP came together and formed a coalition government. This coalition broke in the year 2018, after which Governor’s rule was imposed in the state.

Maharaja Hari Singh had formed the legislature in 1934 but no party was allowed to participate in the elections of Jammu and Kashmir. Legislative elections were held in 1951 and Sheikh Abdullah’s party won all the seats unopposed. Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections were held for the first time in 1962 and Sheikh Abdullah’s party won 70 seats under the leadership of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad. Congress came to power in the 1967 assembly elections by winning 61 seats. The National Conference could win only three seats then.

In the 1972 Jammu Kashmir elections, Congress won 58 seats, Bharatiya Jansangh won three and Jamaat-e-Islami won five seats. In the 1977 assembly elections, National Conference won 47 seats and came to power. National Conference won the 1983 elections as well. In 1987, National Conference emerged as the largest party. In the 1996 elections, National Conference won 57 seats. In the 2002 Jammu Kashmir elections, National Conference emerged as the largest party by winning 28 seats. In the 2008 elections as well, no party got a majority and National Conference was the largest party by winning 28 seats.