The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday bagged its first Jammu and Kashmir Assembly seat with Mehraj Malik winning the Doda constituency in Jammu.
According to data from the Election Commission, Malik defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gajay Singh Rana by a margin of 4,538 votes. The National Conference’s Khalid Najib Suharwardy placed third while Sheikh Riyaz Ahmed from the Congress came placed fifth.
In 2014, when the last Assembly elections were held in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP’s Shakti Raj won the Doda seat. However, the constituency has historically flipped between the Congress and the National Conference since the first state elections in 1962.
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Malik joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2013. He is the district development councillor from the Kahara segment. According to media reports, Malik grabbed attention for his strong criticism of the administration under the lieutenant governor in Jammu and Kashmir.
After the results for the Doda Assembly seat became clear, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Malik.
“You fought a very good election,” said Kejriwal on X. “Congratulations to the entire Aam Aadmi Party for having MLAs in five states.”
The Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir took place in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1. A voter turnout of 63.8% was recorded.
The elections were the first in 10 years, and the first since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019.
Article 370 had accorded special status to the erstwhile state. The Centre at the time also bifurcated the state into two Union territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
In December, the Supreme Court in its verdict on petitions challenging the Centre’s decision had set September 2024 as the deadline for the Election Commission to conduct elections for the Legislative Assembly that is being restored.
The court had also directed the Union government to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood “at the earliest and as soon as possible”.
The Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir has a strength of 119 members. While elections took place in 90 constituencies, 24 additional seats were designated for areas in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The lieutenant governor has the power to appoint five members. Therefore, a party or an alliance needs 48 seats for a majority when the House has 95 members.
Most exit polls on Saturday projected the National Conference-Congress alliance to be ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Also read: Why new J&K government will be stunted – no matter who wins
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