People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) comprising seven-parties has come up victorious in the recently concluded District Development Council (DDC) election. However, BJP made a clean sweep in Jammu region, while in Kashmir; PAGD set a tough challenge before BJP and its claims. Though PAGD alleged the government of creating unethical obstructions in the election campaign but being the regional parties, they made it happen and registered their victory.
The recent DDC polls were the first major elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the revocation of Article 370 as well as the crackdown, lockdown, and detention of all mainstream politicians.
The PAGD, which comprises seven parties like Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (PC), and CPI(M), won 109 out of 280 seats, while the BJP won 74.
The PAGD is all set to take control of nine out of the 10 district councils in the Kashmir region, while the BJP is likely to control six out of 10 councils in the Jammu region. Four district councils in Jammu and one in Kashmir will be dependent on Independents and smaller parties.
Since day one, when the Election Commission announced the poll dates, the PAGD and BJP locked the horns and tried their hard to lure the people for votes, and it was after decades when people chose to vote without much threat of the situation.
The recent poll results have put a tough challenge before BJP, ‘the single largest party in the centre’. Though the central government is in no mood to conduct Assembly election sooner but BJP has to develop a proper strategy to defeat the PAGD. BJP has allegedly tried every possible way to discredit the local mainstream parties in Kashmir, but the recent DDC poll results have shown that people still have faith in local parties.
The encouraging victory of PAGD and other local parties in Kashmir has shown a roadway for them to regain the expectation s of people. As of now, PAGD claims that their victory is an example of people’s desire for their demand for revocation of Article 370 and 35A. All these claims will remain at a halt until there will be an announcement for Assembly elections, especially whether the Government of India will return the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised at the time of bifurcating J&K into two union territories. Till then, nothing concrete can be expected, but hope will remain.