The Congress-National Conference alliance has secured victories in the polls to the J&K Assembly with 49 of the 90 seats coming their way in the results declared on Tuesday, but it is the latter, regional party which has walked away with the honours.
Both parties announced a seat-sharing deal for 83 seats - 51 for the National Conference and 32 for the Congress - mostly in the Jammu region and a 'friendly fight' on five seats as they couldn't zero in.
One seat each was left for smaller allies - the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party.
However, the friendly fight seats increased to six.
Out of 56 constituencies it contested in this assembly election, National Conference emerged victorious in 42, both in Kashmir Valley as well as in the Jammu region with a 75 percent strike rate. It has also triumphed in Nowshera seat convincingly as its Surinder Kumar Choudhry defeated BJP's J&K President Ravinder Raina. However, its tally may dip by one as party Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has won from both the seats - Ganderbal and Budgam - he contested.
On the other hand, the Congress won only six of those in its kitty, or less than 20 per cent. Five of its victories were in the Kashmir Valley and out of the seats it contested in the Jammu region, it only won one - Rajouri-ST, and that too, by a slender margin of just over 1,400 votes. Its total is even less than the seven Independents that have won - including five in the Jammu region.
While its J&K unit chief Tariq Hameed Karra (Central Shalateng) and his predecessors like Ghulam Ahmad Mir (Dooru) and Peerzada Mohammad Syed (Anantnag) won, former chief Vikar Rasool Wani lost in Banihal - one of the seats where there was a friendly fight.
Other prominent losers in this election were: Working Presidents and Former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand (Chhamb), another Working President and former minister Raman Bhalla (R.S. Pura-Jammu South), two-time former MP Choudhary Lal Singh (Basohli), former ministers Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar), Yogesh Sawhney (Jammu East), and Mohd Shabir Khan (Thanamandi).
Even in friendly fights, the NC came out trumps in Sopore, Baramulla, Banihal and Devsar. Bhadarwah went to the BJP; Aam Aadmi Party won Doda to open its account in Jammu and Kashmir.
Among the allies, CPI-M's Mohamad Yousaf Tarigami won Kupwara, but J&K National Panthers Party's Harsh Dev Singh could not make it good in Chenani seat of Udhampur district.
The National Conference, close to the magic halfway mark on its own, is likely to call the shots in the next government it will form.
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