Leaders Who Switched Parties Suffer Major Setbacks in J&K

Srinagar, Oct 10: The majority of leaders who switched parties over the years lost in the recently concluded Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.
A total of 873 candidates contested across 90 constituencies—47 in Kashmir and 43 in the Jammu region. The vote count, which took place on October 08, saw the National Conference (NC) emerge as the leading party with 42 seats, followed by the BJP with 29, Congress with 6, JKPDP with 3, and smaller parties and independents securing the remaining seats.

A significant trend in these elections was the defeat of maximum leaders who had changed political parties over the years. Muzaffar Hussain Baig, a former deputy chief minister and one of the founders of the PDP, lost both seats he and his wife contested.
Similarly, former PDP legislators Noor Mohammad and Mohammad Ashraf Mir lost in two constituencies of Srinagar.
Junaid Azim Matoo and Khurshid Alam were also defeated in two assembly segments of Srinagar. They, too, had switched parties over the years.
Basharat Bukhari, a PDP candidate who had changed parties several times after the abrogation of Article 370, lost to Congress candidate Irfan Hafeez Lone in the Wagoora-Kreeri constituency in Baramulla.
Likewise, Imran Ansari, general secretary of the Peoples Conference, was defeated in the Pattan constituency by NC candidate Javaid Riyaz Bedar. He had earlier been with the PDP.
In the Uri constituency, former Congress minister Taj Mohiddin lost to Dr. Shafi Uri of the NC. Taj had joined the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) in 2022, a party formed by former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, but left before the elections and contested as an independent.
Mohammad Amin Bhat, a DPAP candidate, was defeated in a South Kashmir seat. He had previously been with Congress.
In the Gurez constituency, BJP candidate Faqeer Muhammad Khan was defeated by NC’s Nazir Gurezi. Khan had switched from the PDP to the BJP in 2020. Similarly, Usman Majeed, a former Congress legislator, lost to Congress candidate Nizamuddin Bhat in Bandipora.
Ghulam Hassan Mir, a former minister and PDP founder, lost to NC’s Farooq Shah in Gulmarg. Altaf Bukhari, Apni Party president and former PDP leader, also lost his first election in the Chanapora constituency to NC’s Mushtaq Guroo.
Several other leaders who changed parties were also defeated in the recent assembly polls.
While most leaders who switched parties were defeated, there were some exceptions. Surinder Chowdhary, who had changed parties multiple times, won his seat, as did Nizamuddin Bhat, a former PDP leader who won on a Congress ticket.