May,25: An analysis of the assembly constituency wise polling pattern of just concluded parliamentary elections establishes beyond doubt that the National Conference claim that it will form next government in the state on its own is hollow stated Brig Anil Gupta, State Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party in a press statement released by the party.
NC has won in 30 assembly constituencies, all in Kashmir, mostly due to low voter turnout. Margin of victory is also very narrow in many constituencies. It has clean swept the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency by winning in all 15 assembly constituencies. The party has zero representation from both Jammu & Ladakh regions. NC surrendered without contest in Jammu & Ladakh because it failed to find suitable candidates. Its ploy of a Mahagathbandhan to defeat the BJP in these regions failed miserably going by the huge margin of victory in favour of BJP in the three parliamentary seats allotted to Congress in the garb of unity of self-proclaimed secular parties, asserted Brig Gupta.
“With lead in just 30 assembly constituencies, how it plans to form the government on its own needs an explanation from both the provincial and state Presidents of NC. The confidence exuded by these leaders is good to raise the sagging morale of its cadre but woefully inadequate to form next state government on its own”, said Brig Gupta. How can they claim massive victory from all three regions when their party did not participate in local bodies, panchayat and parliamentary elections in two of the three regions, questioned Brig Gupta?
Incidentally BJP’s vote share of 46.4% in these elections is more than the combined vote share of NC, Congress and PDP together. Congress has a vote share of 28.5%, followed by NC- 7.9% and PDP- 3.3%, asserted Brig Gupta.
Brig Gupta once again reminded Dr Abdullah and NC leadership that it does not have the mandate of the people of Jammu & Ladakh to make tall claims about Articles 35A and 370 because people of these two regions want immediate removal of these articles as is evident from the mandate given in favour of their removal.
Dr Abdullah also needs to clarify as to how he proposes to restore peace in the state when his party wants to repeal Public Safety Act, remove AFSPA, demands withdrawal of Indian Army, wants ban on Jamaat e Islami (JeM) to be lifted and Operation All Out to be called off, asked Brig Gupta? Can peace be restored without eliminating the terror and the over ground terror network, Dr Abdullah needs to clarify?