By Japan K Pathak, Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat

Final results of Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir assembly general elections are now out. At the end of the day, I conclude these elections and results as victory of India.

Look at Jharkhand, the state which belongs to relatively underdeveloped eastern side of India. This mineral-rich state truly deserves to enjoy the status of very reach and prosperous state. But look at the mess. The state has seen nine different governments–none of which could complete its term–in the last 14 years since the formation in 2000. Add to this, the state has also seen 3 spells of President rule. If it is a big size state with various regional and geographical variations, we could somehow accept the fact of repeated fractured verdicts, but this is actually a small state.

Following are the list of the Chief Ministers and details about President’s rule.

1) Babulal Marandi(BJP)–November 15, 2000 to March 17, 2003.

2)Arjun Munda(BJP)–March 18, 2003 to March 2, 2005.

3)Shibu Soren(JMM)–March 2, 2005 to March 12, 2005.

4) Arjun Munda(BJP)–March 12, 2005 to September 14, 2006.

5)Madhu Koda(Independent)–September 14, 2006 to August 23, 2008

6)Shibu Soren–August 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009.

7) President’s rule from January 19, 2009 to December 29, 2009.

8) Shibu Soren–December 30, 2009 to May 31, 2010.

9) President’s rule from June 1, 2010 to September 11, 2010.

10) Arjun Munda–September 11, 2010 to January 18, 2013.

11) President’s rule–January 18, 2013 to July 12, 2013

12) Hemant Soren (JMM)– From July 2013.

In this context, a clear mandate to BJP-AJS pre-poll coalition is actually a victory of India, because the mineral-rich small state with excellent prospects and possibilities is finally headed towards a stable government this time. Same party rule in both centre and state with ‘development’ as core agenda will do justice to this state which suffers from poverty, lack of governance, corruption and maoist problem.

People of Jharkhand have voted for stability, which is essential to realise the true potential of the State. I congratulate them.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 23, 2014

Switching over to the elections of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, which can also be described as victory of India.

Though separatists and a few pro-Pakistan, anti-Indians had given boycott call, Kashmiris formed queues at polling stations and recorded highest polling percentage.

Contrary to past, there was not a single allegation about rigging, forceful voting, Army’s interference etc. I was continuously tracking the social media accounts of separatists and anti-Indians in Kashmir. This time they had no allegation to make against the polling process.

Overall the polling season remained peaceful. Our jawans played excellent role during the elections.

Record turnout in J&K polls showed people's faith in democracy. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for placing their confidence in BJP

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 23, 2014

It was heartening to see that after over a decade, our Prime Minister addressed thousands of Kashmiris in Srinagar in an open stadium. It was a pleasure to see, national president of BJP addressing election campaign rally in core part of Srinagar in Kashmir valley.

BJP had fielded candidates in 34 of the 46 constituencies in the Valley. Moti Koul, BJP’s candidate from Habba Kadal in Srinagar district, who was the only one BJP candidate in Kashmir Valley to save deposit by getting 2,596 votes in the constituency which recorded only 21 per cent voter turnout. He lost to Shamima Firdous of National Conference(NC) by a margin of over 2,000 votes. Koul was also under the threat of losing his security deposit till the migrant votes were counted, which propelled him from seventh position to the runners-up. BJP’s Shopian candidate Javed Ahmad Qadri managed to get over 3,300 votes but lost the security deposit due to the higher voter turnout in the constituency in south Kashmir. Masood-ul-Hassan, fighting from Hazratbal constituency, polled 2,635 votes but he too could not save his deposit. Prominent BJP nominees who got over 1,000 votes were Hina Shafi Bhat from Amira Kadal(1,359), Zubair Ahmad Wani from Batmaloo (1,304) and Dharakshan Indrabi from Sonawar (1,100) in terms of number of votes polled. Hina, who had sparked a controversy by allegedly slapping an election officer during polling, got 1,359 votes out of the total of more than 20,000 votes polled. Daughter of former NC MP and MLA Mohammad Shafi Bhat, Hina had denied the assault charge. The doctor-turned-politician was banking upon her father’s clout and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s only election rally in Kashmir to sail through but came up against PDP’s Altaf Bukhari, the eventual winner, and National Conference’s incumbent MLA Nasir Aslam Wani.Neelam Gash in Zadibal segment got just 360 votes. Darakshan Andrabi, who was contesting against Chief MInister Omar Abdullah from Sonawar constituency in Srinagar, managed to get 1,100 votes but the story was no different for her too as PDP’s Mohammad Ashraf Mir ran away with the seat.

Yes it is true that BJP couldn’t win a single seat in valley area, but the party that rules the nation, at least built bridges to valley area through its candidates and its campaign. Some kind of disconnect felt between BJP and Kashmir valley has become a matter of past, after this election. BJP’s determined bid to score its first poll victory in Kashmir valley itself worked like a bridge connecting it to Kashmir valley.

Suppose if there’s a coalition government of BJP and the leading party elected by valley area people, there will be merger of wishes of people from Jammu region and people from Kashmir Valley region. Only development should be the product of such merger, and other issues should be put on the sideline in that case. This will further bridge the national ruling party to valley, which is good for nation. At the same time, BJP men in government(they should be part of government) will be able to give equal justice to Jammu region. Development for all must be a mantra in such case. I don’t know whether a dream of having a Chief Minister from Jammu region can materialize or not, but at least there should be a deputy chief minister from Jammu region who must be a BJP MLA. BJP has won respectable number of seats. Though PDP is single largest party, the BJP is not on distant second position.

I like Amit Shah’s remark in a press conference that BJP would like to see popular government in Jammu & Kashmir through democratic process. He thus denied possibility of Delhi like situation.

Overall I sense Tuesday’s verdict is good for Bharat. Forget political parties, these two-state elections have resulted into a victory of India.

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