2024 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election
Updated: Wikipedia source
Legislative Assembly elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir from 18 September to 1 October 2024 in 3 phases to elect 90 members of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. The results of the elections were announced on 8 October 2024. The INDIA alliance won a majority of seats in the election, winning 49 of the 90 seats for which elections were held, with the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) winning the highest number of seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the second largest number of seats and the largest share of the popular vote. This was the first assembly election in over a decade, and the first since the territory's special status was revoked, its statehood withdrawn, martial curfew imposed and over 300 political leaders detained or under house arrest in 2019. Indian government indefinitely suspended elections, for stabilizing the conditions in Kashmir Valley due to the decades long ongoing armed insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. A Supreme Court plea challenging this was brought forward by Panthers Party in May 2023. In December 2023, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India to restore the democratic process by 30 September 2024. The order also upheld the revocation of article 370 and deemed it to be within the laws set by the constitution. Foreign diplomats were allowed to observe the election but foreign journalists were kept out. JKNC emerged as the single largest party, winning 42 seats in total, while BJP came second with 29 seats won. The Indian National Congress (INC) won 6 seats, Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (JKPDP) won 3 seats, while Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference and Aam Aadmi Party won one seat each. 7 seats were won by independent candidates. After BJP's 25.64% largest share of the popular vote, JKNC won the second largest share at 23.43%. The INC and JKPDP got 11.97% and 8.87% of the votes respectively, with remaining 30.09% going to other parties, independents and NOTA (none of the above). Coincidentally, this was the worst performance of the Indian National Congress, winning just 6 out of the 38 seats it contested and garnering a vote share of 11.97%. The JKNC's Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the union territory's first chief minister on 16 October.