Srinagar, Apr 20: Peoples Conference (PC) President Sajad Gani Lone on Saturday sought support of Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari in north Kashmir for the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) elections to defeat the National Conference (NC).
Addressing media persons in Srinagar, the PC President said as per the analysis done by his party, it has been observed that the fragmentation of votes has always helped the National Conference (NC) candidate to win the Lok Sabha elections and are sent to Parliament. He said till date 10 Member Parliaments have been elected to Parliament from north Kashmir since 1977 excluding 1996 election.”And out of 10, nine were from NC. One of the main reasons that NC has been able to reach Parliament was fragmentation of the votes,”Sajad Lone said.He said the vote share of NC from a high of 60 to 65 percent in 10982 when his father Abdul Gani Lone was in politics and would retain second position, had dropped to 29 percent.
“Despite getting 29 percent votes they still won the 2019 LS election in north Kashmir,” he said. Sharing figures, Sajad Lone said in 2019 around 4.55 lakh were cast in Lok Sabha elections in north Kashmir out of which 1.33l lac votes were cast in favour of National Conference. “ Around 3.22 lakh votes were cast against NC which is 71 percent of the total but still their candidate won the election and was sent to Parliament,” he said. He said that for every one vote polled for NC, 2.25 votes were polled against them.
“So in view of this, I appeal to my very dear friend Altaf Bukhari to let us stop the division of votes in north Kashmir. I am appealing to his good self that maybe it is the time they support us in north Kashmir,” he said. Lone said the JKPC has already announced that they will extend their unconditional support to Apni Party in Srinagar for LS elections irrespective of the decision they take.
“I appeal to them that all the anti NC votes should be consolidated and a good replacement is sent to the Parliament to represent the people of Kashmir,” he said. He further stated that PC leadership has engaged in constructive discussions with some of the JK Apni Party leaders and for now, their focus remains solely on forging a strategic alliance with Apni Party.
“We have already discussed the issue with them and we thought to keep it transparent and reveal it to the public as well,” Lone said.