12:22 GMT18 January 2021

COVID-19 global data

Confirmed cases:

Indian paramilitary personnel.

Setback for Modi's BJP as Kashmiri Parties Lead in First Election After Losing Special Status

© AFP 2020 / Manpreet ROMANA

16:56 GMT 22.12.2020Get short URL

by Rishikesh Kumar

171

Subscribe

https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/104706/13/1047061345_0:206:3548:2202_1200x675_80_0_0_615a9b45478529db688dd1eb8b676e5d.jpg

Sputnik International

https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png

Rishikesh Kumar. Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/asia/202012221081540980-setback-for-modis-bjp-as-kashmiri-parties-lead-in-first-election-after-losing-special-status/

Polling was held in eight phases and was spread over 25 days between 28 November and 19 December for 280 seats of the local body; 14 in each of the 20 districts of the Union Territory. This is the first election to be held in Jammu and Kashmir since its special status was scrapped last year.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday demanded restoration of special status for Jammu and Kashmir as an alliance led by Kashmiri parties has taken the lead in the local government election.

A man gestures after he was detained by Indian policemen during a protest near the site of a gun battle between Indian security forces and suspected militants, in Srinagar, 12 October 2020.

© REUTERS / DANISH ISMAIL

Political Leaders, Workers Detained for Protesting Against New Land Laws in Kashmir - Video

Results and emerging trends of the District Development Council polls show that the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) - a seven-party alliance including the National Conference and the PDP formed for the restoration of Article 370 - has won 65 seats and is leading in 49 others out of a total of 280 seats. Modi’s BJP has won 35 seats and is leading in 31 seats, mostly in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region.

“The BJP is the one which turned these elections as a referendum of its policy of 2019. I hope they have understood the desire of the people,” said Abdullah, news agency PTI quoted former state chief as saying. Abdullah asserted that if the BJP believes in democracy, it should immediately reverse its decision to repeal special status and respect the verdict of the people of this region.

The Modi government abolished the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 claiming that it is detrimental to the complete unification of the country.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Commissioner Sushma Chauhan said that restrictive and prohibitory measures were in place and no victory processions would be allowed by political parties and independent candidates without permission.

A paper ballot system was used in these elections, so the declaration of all the results is taking longer than usual.

Related:: Pakistan Can't Affect India's Image Among OIC Nations, Says Ex-Envoy on Kashmir Resolution

: Internet Services Suspended in Jammu and Kashmir Amid Terror Threats to Local Polls

Tags:

Sputnik News, Sputnik, Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), Narendra Modi, Omar Abdullah, Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, India, Kashmir

Community standardsDiscussion

Сomment
Thank you! Your comment will be reviewed by the moderator for compliance with the Rules
Add more
Post limit reached. Please try again in a minute.
Your comment contains a link, so it can't be published on our site

Сomment

Community standards

The fact of registration and authorization of users on Sputnik websites via users’ account or accounts on social networks indicates acceptance of these rules.

Users are obliged abide by national and international laws. Users are obliged to speak respectfully to the other participants in the discussion, readers and individuals referenced in the posts.

The websites’ administration has the right to delete comments made in languages other than the language of the majority of the websites’ content.

In all language versions of the sputniknews.com websites any comments posted can be edited.

A user comment will be deleted if it:

does not correspond with the subject of the post;
promotes hatred and discrimination on racial, ethnic, sexual, religious or social basis or violates the rights of minorities;
violates the rights of minors, causing them harm in any form, including moral damage;
contains ideas of extremist nature or calls for other illegal activities;
contains insults, threats to other users, individuals or specific organizations, denigrates dignity or undermines business reputations;
contains insults or messages expressing disrespect to Sputnik;
violates privacy, distributes personal data of third parties without their consent or violates privacy of correspondence;
describes or references scenes of violence, cruelty to animals;
contains information about methods of suicide, incites to commit suicide;
pursues commercial objectives, contains improper advertising, unlawful political advertisement or links to other online resources containing such information;
promotes products or services of third parties without proper authorization;
contains offensive language or profanity and its derivatives, as well as hints of the use of lexical items falling within this definition;
contains spam, advertises spamming, mass mailing services and promotes get-rich-quick schemes;
promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;
contains links to viruses and malicious software;
is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");
“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;
violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");
doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.

Users can initiate the recovery of their account / unlock access by contacting the moderators at moderator@sputniknews.com

The letter must contain:

Subject - the restoration of account / unlock access
User ID
An explanation of the actions which were in violation of the rules above and resulted in the lock.

If the moderators deem it possible to restore the account / unlock access, it will be done.

In the case of repeated violations of the rules above resulting in a second block of a user’s account, access cannot be restored.

To contact the team of moderators, write to moderator@sputniknews.com