This time, the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh were full of surprises, from the voting process to the election results. Two former chief ministers lost, and independent candidates made their mark. Jammu and Kashmir made history with over 58 percent voter turnout, breaking all previous records of the last forty years. This was a significant shock and a setback for two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who lost the elections by huge margins.
Mehbooba Mufti lost to National Conference leader Mian Altaf by over 2.8 lakh votes. However, the bigger shock was Omar Abdullah losing to jailed independent candidate Engineer Rashid, who took the lead with over two lakh votes, leaving Abdullah far behind.
Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, is a former MLA from the Langate assembly seat in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district. Rashid won the assembly seat twice in a row and heads the Awami Ittehad Party. He has been in jail since 2019, booked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a terror funding case, and has been lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi. He is the first mainstream politician to be arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Engineer Rashid’s son, Abrar Rashid, credited the people of Baramulla for their support during the election campaign.
Abrar Rashid said, “It’s the victory of people who joined us in the election campaign. Today, when Omar Abdullah accepted his defeat, the credit goes to those youths who spent their own money and remained by our side.”
During his time as an elected MLA, Engineer Rashid was also considered a separatist sympathizer. Meanwhile, Omar Abdullah took to social media and shared a quote from a story: “Rashid’s victory, without doubt, will empower secessionists, and give Kashmir’s defeated Islamist movement a renewed sense of hope. Efforts to draw secessionism back into electoral politics led New Delhi to support the rise of the People’s Democratic Party, and its alliance with the BJP. That, however, ended up empowering violent secessionists, not mainstreaming them—a warning of the unpredictable outcomes of trying to manipulate politics.”
Although these were not Omar Abdullah’s words, sharing them on social media was seen as an endorsement of the same thoughts.
Another surprise was independent candidate Haji Haneefa Jan, who won the Ladakh Parliamentary seat. Haji was previously associated with the National Conference and served as the district president of the party in Ladakh. He decided to run independently in this parliamentary election as the INDIA alliance fielded Namgyal as their candidate. The Kargil Unit of the National Conference resigned en masse after Namgyal was chosen as their candidate.
In 2023, Haneefa had lost the Kargil elections for the Barro constituency in the LAHDC Kargil by a mere 66 votes. After Omar Abdullah decided to field a different candidate for the Ladakh seat, Haji decided to quit and run solo. Environmentalist and educationist Sonam Wangchuk’s demand for statehood for Ladakh and his 21-day hunger strike, advocating for the UT to be brought under the Sixth Schedule of Article 244 of the Indian Constitution, also played a significant role in Haji’s win.
Haji Haneefa said, “The people of Ladakh have given me a big mandate, and for the next five years, I will work on Ladakh’s issues, both in parliament and outside.”
Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh have six seats in total, out of which two have been won by independents. Two seats in the Kashmir region were won by NC leaders who were relatively unknown in the political scenario of Jammu and Kashmir but are highly respected individuals. The two seats in the Jammu region were retained by the BJP.
