BJP wins 43 out of 75 seats in JMC elections

#Independents emerge single-largest group in Kashmir, Muslim-dominated districts of Jammu

21/10/2018

Jammu, Oct 20: The BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) on Saturday emerged as a clear winner in the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) elections with 43 seats in its kitty, bettering its previous strength of 25 in the 75-member body.
The Congress suffered a big loss in the election, winning only 14 seats against its 26 in the 2005 civic polls, election officials said. Then it was ruling Jammu and Kashmir in coalition with the PDP. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) along with the National Conference (NC), the CPI(M) and the BSP had boycotted the four-phased Urban Local Bodies elections which were held after a gap of 13 years.
The BJP won 43 seats in the JMC elections, the officials said. The independent candidates also presented a good show, winning a total of 18 seats in the JMC.
In rest of the 446 wards spread across Jammu region covering a total of 36 municipal committees and councils, the BJP had an edge over its rivals in 15 bodies followed by Independents in 12 and the Congress in five, they said.
The BJP won a total of 169 seats in these bodies followed by independents at 167 and the Congress at 96, the officials said.
They attributed the emergence of independents as a strong force in view of the absence of the NC and the PDP, the key regional parties.
The election in a ward in Ramban was countermanded due to the death of a BJP candidate who suffered a heart attack on the day of polling in the second phase on October 10. The election in the 521 municipal wards in the 10 districts of Jammu was held in the first three phases of the elections in the state, which concluded on October 16, recording a high voter turnout of 68.4 per cent among the over 6.44 lakh electorate.
Thirteen candidates were elected to different municipal wards unopposed, leaving a total of 2,137 candidates in the fray. The JMC along with seven municipal committees of Jammu went to polls in the first phase on October 8, registering a turnout of 63.8 per cent.
The counting of votes in the winter capital started at a government polytechnic institute at 9 am. As the results started pouring in, BJP leaders and activists came out to celebrate party's victory.
"This is the victory of the people and they have reposed their faith in us. We will continue to serve the people to the best of our ability," BJP state chief RavinderRaina said while leading the celebrations at party headquarters here.
He said it was the victory of Prime Minister NarendraModi's vision and efforts to take the country to new heights and the hard work and dedication of party leaders and workers. The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) failed to open its account in the majority of the wards, including the JMC.
Party chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh alleged rigging and claimed, "It is not the BJP but electronic voting machine (EVM) which won the election for the party."
"EVMs should be replaced with ballot boxes to enure free and fair polls," he said. Deepak Gupta, the brother of senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta, was among the prominent candidates who lost the elections.
However, Rajinder Singh alias Bubby, the brother of senior BJP leader ChoudharyLal Singh, and his wife VandinaAndotra won as independents from Kathua municipal council.
Bubby was in the centre of a controversy in May when a video of him went viral on social media in which he was purportedly abusing former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti during a 'Dogra Swabhiman rally.
The rally was led by the former minister in support of a demand for a CBI probe into the Kathua rape and murder case. An FIR was registered against Bubby who was later arrested from Rajasthan's Udaipur in June after evading arrest for nearly a month.
In the seven municipal committees of Jammu, the BJP won Akhnoor with 11 seats, while two seats went to Congress. In Bishnah, the BJP won six seats against seven by Independents.
In Arnia, the BJP won seven seats, independents five and Congress one, in R S Pura BJP won nine, Independents three and Congress one, in Ghmanhansan won BJP two, Congress-two, in Khour won BJP nine and Congress four and in Jourian BJP won two, Congress four and independent one, the officials said.
Independent candidates got a lion's share of seats in the urban local body (ULB) polls, especially in Muslim-dominated districts of Jammu, winning 185 wards out of 521 spread across the region.
The independents have an edge over the BJP and the Congress in over a dozen municipal bodies, officials said. They have presented a good show in all the 10 districts which registered a high voter turnout in the recently concluded ULB polls held after a gap of 13 years.
In the two municipal committees of Poonch district 17-member Poonch and 13-member Surankote the independent candidates won 23 seats, while the Congress and the BJP had to soothe with four and three seats, respectively, the officials said.
In the adjoining Rajouri district, independents won seven-member Kalakote municipal committee, while the BJP swept 13-member Sunderbani with 10 seats against three by independents and 13-member Noushera by winning seven against three each by the Congress and independents, they said.
The Congress won 13-member municipal committee Thanamandi by winning nine seats while four seats went to independents, the officials said, adding that 17-member Rajouri municipal committee witnessed a tough fight with the Congress, the BJP and independents getting seven, six and four seats, respectively.
In 13 wards of Kishtwar district, the officials said independents won 10 seats, while the Congress and the BJP won two and one seat, respectively.
Independents also enjoyed popular support in Doda district where they won 18 wards, out of total 37 of the three municipal committees of Doda, Bhaderwah and Thatri. The Congress got 12 and the BJP won seven wards.
In Ramban district, the Congress swept Banihal municipal committee winning all the seven wards, while Batote handed over four seats to the BJP, one to the Congress and two to independents.
In Ramban municipal committee, six seats were shared by the BJP, Congress and independents, while the election for one ward was countermanded due to the death of a BJP candidate on the polling day in the second phase on October 10.
Samba district also witnessed a record number of 27 independent candidates emerging as victorious followed by the BJP (18), the Congress (nine) and the National Panthers Party (two) in the four municipal committees of Samba, Vijaypur, Ramgarh and Bari Brahmana having a total strength of 56 wards, the officials said.
Barring Bari Brahmana where BJP had got seven seats and independents six, the rest of the municipalities have independents heading the chart.
In nearby Kathua district having one council and five municipal committees, independents won 27 of the total 80 seats. The BJP had won 34 seats and the Congress got 19 seats in the district.
In the Jammu Municipal Corporation, the BJP won by 43 seats, out of 75, while the independents emerged second with 18 seats followed by the Congress with 14.
Seven other municipal committees of Jammu district having a total strength of 79 wards saw independents winning 16 seats, leading the chart in Bishnah.
The rest of the seats were shared by the BJP (49) and the Congress (14), the officials said.
Nine independents emerged victorious in Udhampur municipal council followed by the National Panthers Party (six), the BJP (four) and the Congress (two) much to the surprise of the saffron party which was expecting a victory of its candidates given the constituency being represented by Union Minister Jitendra Singh in Parliament.
The two other committees of Udhampur Ramnagar and Chenani saw the BJP winning 10 seats, National Panthers Party got five seats, independents won four seats and the Congress got one.
In Reasi district, the BJP headed the chart with 13 seats followed by independents (nine) and the Congress (four).
However, Independents also emerged the single-largest group in the urban local bodies polls in Kashmir but it was the BJP that took giant strides by winning 100 wards, tasting its first electoral victory in the Valley at any level.
As per the results declared by election authorities here, independent candidates won in 178 wards spread across 42 municipal bodies in Kashmir division including Leh and Kargil. The Congress came second with its candidates getting elected from 157 wards while the BJP won in 100 wards.
The boycott call by separatists coupled with threats by militants and non-participation of the National Conference and the PDP, helped both the BJP and the Congress in a major way as 76 and 78 candidates from the respective national parties were elected unopposed.
While the BJP emerged the single-largest party in 12 municipal bodies, it has a majority in five of these bodies.
Congress is the single-largest party in 15 bodies having a majority in 11 of these bodies. In the prestigious Srinagar Municipal Corporation, the Congress won 16 seats while the BJP won in four wards. Independents bagged 53 seats in the 74-member body.
Junaid Azim Mattu, who resigned from the National Conference to contest the election, was among the prominent winners. He had contested from three wards and won from two.
The BJP, which had won the Ladakh constituency in 2014 LokSabha elections, got a drubbing from Congress in Leh and Kargil civic bodies. The saffron party failed to open its account in the two bodies while the Congress bagged all 13 seats in Leh and six seats in Kargil.
Meanwhile, Congress has made a clean sweep by winning all the 13 wards in Leh Municipal Committee (LMC) while the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) failed to make inroads into the committee.
Officials told UNI that all the 13 Congress candidates, contesting ULB polls for LMC, were declared winners.
They said that the BJP failed to open its account in the LMC.
Unprecedented security arrangements have been made in and around the counting centres and only those having valid passes issued by the authorities, are allowed to enter there. The counting of votes for the Municipal Polls-2018 was underway across Jammu and Kashmir and the results will be also declared in the evening. The elections did not see participation by two main regional parties, National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) besides Communist Party of India (M), who boycotted the ULB polls in Jammu and Kashmir, alleging that state and Central governments failed to clear their stand on Article 35 A.

FULL LIST OF ELECTED CORPORATORS OF JMC

1. Ward No 1: Purnima Sharma BJP
2. Ward No 2: Jagdish Kumar Independent,
3. Ward No 3: Narottam Sharma BJP
4. Ward No 4: SunitaKoul BJP
5. Ward No 5: Gopal Gupta BJP
6. Ward No 6: Mohd Mohiud Din Congress
7. Ward No 7: Ritu Choudhary, Congress
8. Ward No 8: Akshay Sharma BJP
9. Ward No 9: Sunil Sharma BJP
10. Ward No 10: Anil Kumar BJP
11. Ward No 11: Neeta Sharma Independent
12. Ward No 12: Ajeet Angral BJP
13. Ward No 13: Rama Congress
14. Ward No 14: Parmod Kapahi BJP
15. Ward No 15: Sandhaya Gupta Independent
16. Ward No 16: Rajinder Sharma BJP
17. Ward No 17: Nidhi Malhotra BJP
18. Ward No 18 Dinesh Gupta BJP
19. Ward No 19: Amit Gupta Independent
20. Ward No 20: Rahul BJP
21. Ward No 21: BhanuMahajan Congress
22. Ward No 22: Jaideep Sharma BJP
23. Ward No 23: Pawan Singh BJP
24. Ward No 24: Anu Bali Independent
25. Ward No 25: ArunKhanna BJP
26. Ward No 26: Hardeep Singh BJP
27. Ward No 27: CharanjeetKour Congress
28. Ward No 28: Gourav Chopra Congress
29. Ward No 29: Surinder Singh BJP
30. Ward No 30: Sonika Sharma Congress
31. Ward No. 31: Sucha Singh Independent
32. Ward No 32: Satpal BJP
33. Ward No 33: Chander Mohan BJP
34. Ward No 34: Rani Devi Independent
35. Ward No 35: Yashpal Sharma BJP
36. Ward No 36: Subash Sharma Independent
37. Ward No 37: Sunita Gupta Candidate
38. Ward No 38: Surinder Sharma BJP
39. Ward No 39: RajinderJamwal Congress
40. Ward No 40: Neelam BJP
41. Warn No 41: Sanjay Baru BJP
42. Ward No 42: Neelam Choudhary Independent
43. Ward No 43: Surjeet Singh BJP
44. Ward No 44: Inder Singh Independent
45. Ward No 45 Raj Rani BJP
46. Ward No 46: Dwarka Choudhary Congress
47. Ward No 47: Sharda Kumari BJP
48. Ward No 48: Sham Lal Independent
49. Ward No 49: Kamal Singh Congress
50. Ward No 50: Neena Gupta BJP
51. Ward No 51: Raj Kumar Independent
52. Ward No 52: Ajay Gupta BJP
53. Ward No 53: Jyoti Devi BJP
54. Ward No 54: Neeraj Puri BJP
55. Ward No 55: Pritam Singh Congress
56. Ward No 56: Baldev Billoria BJP
57. Ward No 57: Inderjeet Kour Congress
58. Ward No 58: Tirth Kour BJP
59. Ward No 59: Ashok Singh Independent
60. Ward No 60: Congress Rajni Bala Congress
61. Ward No 61: Mohinder Bhagat BJP
62. Ward No 62: Rekha Manhas BJP
63. Ward No 63: Kuldeep Singh BJP
64. Ward No 64: Kapil Singh BJP
65. Ward No 65: Geetu Sharma Independent
66. Ward No 66: Tripta Devi BJP
67. Ward No 67: Suraj Prakash BJP
68. Ward No 68: Anil Kumar BJP
69. Ward No 69: Gurmeet Kour BJP
70. Ward No 70: Narinder Singh BJP
71. Ward No 71: Shamma Akhter Independent
72. Ward No 72: Rashpal Bhardwaj Congress
73. Ward No 73: Yudhvir Singh Independent
74. Ward No 74: Shobat Ali Independent
75. Ward No 75: Ghar Singh Independent

BJP: 43 Wards
Congress: 14 Wards
Independent Candidates: 18 Wards

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