By: Faesal Ahmed
Srinagar: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) – popularly known as the Gupkar Alliance – is all set to win a majority of seats in the District Development Council (DDC) structures across Jammu & Kashmir.
According to an official statement issued by the State Election Commission at 12:25 am in the night, while the counting of votes was still going-on, the results have been declared for 247 constituencies in which Gupkar Alliance had won 94 seats, followed by the BJP, which has won 70 seats, independents 44, INC 22, JKAP 10, JKPM 3, JKNPP 2, PDF and BSP one each.
Interestingly, Congress has established a considerable presence in the Chenab valley, Pirpanjal districts and also in the Jammu plains, across diverse constituencies. Although it was not technically part of the Gupkar Alliance, the party has had some level of understanding with the alliance partners in avoiding vote split.
The counting of votes for all the DDC Constituencies began at 9.00 am Tuesday in all the 20 Districts of Jammu & Kashmir and was not yet complete when this report was being filed.
With the PAGD ahead in about 15 more seats, the Alliance is poised to cross the mark of 115 seats.
While the Alliance has made considerable progress in re-establishing its presence in several districts of Jammu region, including Samba, Jammu and Reasi, BJP has so far won three seats in the Kashmir valley.
A final picture of the party position, vote share and the positioning of the large number of independents is expected to be known by Wednesday evening.
The SEC, meanwhile, said that despite the cold conditions prevalent in the Valley and other parts of Jammu province, officials associated with the counting and allied arrangements have put in extraordinarily efforts by reporting at the designated places for counting halls at 06.00 am. While the actual counting began at 09.00 am, and was complete in many places and is likely to continue till midnight in few of the Constituencies.