BJP's Pahari "gamble" fails to yield result in J&K Assembly elections; loses all seats reserved for STs

BJP's political gamble to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the ethnic Pahari tribe and political reservation to the STs in the Assembly elections failed to yield any result as the party lost all the segments reserved for STs across Jammu and Kashmir.

Although BJP's vote share increased manifold in the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri where five assembly segments, out of a total of eight, were reserved for STs.

Rajouri, Budhal, Thanamandi, Surankote, and Mendhar assembly segments of the Pir Panchal range were reserved for STs. First time in the political history of Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP is runner-up in all these constituencies but the party failed to open its account.

With a hope to open its account in these Muslim majority seats, the BJP roped in political stalwarts like Choudhary Zulfikar Ali, Mohammad Iqbal Malik, Murtaza Khan, and Syeed Mushtaq Bukhari field them as party candidates on Budhal, Thanamandi, Mendhar, and Surankote assembly segments but the party failed.

While the Congress won Rajouri assembly seats, Budhal and Mendhar seats were won by the National Conference. Two rebel candidates, contesting elections as Independents, won the Thanamandi and Surankote seats.

BJP launched an aggressive campaign to open accounts in Poonch

Apart from fielding political stalwarts, BJP also launched an aggressive campaign in this belt with Home Minister Amit Shah himself addressing back-to-back four rallies in Poonch and Rajouri districts to mobilize support for party candidates. During his rallies, the Home Minister made it a point to inform the Pahari-speaking people that it was all due to the sincerity of the BJP that their much-awaited demand of grant of getting ST status was fulfilled.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with other  also addressed a series of rallies in this region.

Notably, a historic bill passed to grant ST status to the ethnic Pahari tribe was passed in the Parliament in February this year. Paharis became the first linguistic group to get Scheduled Tribe status in the country.

In the Rajouri ST seat, with 89,102 voters, BJP has fielded veteran Pahari politician Vibodh Gupta but Congress's Iftikhar Ahmad won this seat by defeating BJP candidate by a margin of just 1404 votes.

The Budhal (ST) seat, with 95,072 voters is won by NC candidate Javaid Choudhary who defeated BJP leader Choudhary Zulfikar by a margin of 18908 votes. Javaid Choudhary is the nephew of Choudhary Zulfikar.

Thanamandi (ST), with 1,22,370 voters, was one of the most unpredictable seats in the region, with Congress, PDP, BJP, and an independent NC rebel candidate Muzaffar Iqbal Khan defeating BJP candidate Iqbal Malik by a margin of 6179 votes.

The Surankote (ST), with 1,13,342 voters is won by Independent candidate Akram Choudhary. He defeated BJP's candidate Syed Mushtaq Bukhari, a senior Pahari leader, by a margin of 10428 votes.