The BJP lost, but it will be hard to ignore in Jammu and Kashmir
The party has gained from delimitation and other steps that the Centre took to change the electoral map of the region.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday emerged as the second-largest party in the first Assembly elections held in Jammu and Kashmir in a decade.
With 29 seats, all from Jammu region, this is the party’s best performance since it fought its first poll in Jammu and Kashmir in 1987.
And yet, the results do not allow the Hindutva party a shot at power, given the decisive victory for the National Conference and the Congress alliance, which has won 49 of the 90 seats.
It was not for want of trying. Since August 2019, when the Narendra Modi government sprung the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on the state of Jammu and Kashmir and broke it up into two union territories, the BJP-led Centre had set in motion a chain of exercises to change the electoral cartography of the region.
From delimitation to reserving seats for the Scheduled Caste communities to introducing a new quota for the Pahari tribe, the BJP put in place several measures to offset its most evident weakness – its unpopularity in the Kashmir Valley.
Not all of these steps were successful. “There’s no gain for the BJP after having done so much,” said Anuradha Bhasin, senior journalist and executive editor of...
