Elections for the former

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

of Jammu and Kashmir were held in September -October 2002 in four phases.

Jammu & Kashmir National Conference The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) is a regional political party in the Indian union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Founded as the ''All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference'' by Sheikh Abdullah and Chaudhry Ghulam A ...

was the single largest party but lacked majority. The

Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...

(PDP) and the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

(Congress) formed a coalition government with PDP's Mufti Mohammad Sayeed serving as the Chief Minister for the first three years and Congress's

Ghulam Nabi Azad Ghulam Nabi Azad (born 7 March 1949) is an Indian politician who served as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha between 2014 to 2021. He also served as the Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. On 26 September ...

for the next three years. The election saw a major boycott at the appeal of Tehreek -e-Hurriyat.Kashmir division had a voting percentage of 3.5% while Jammu division had a voting percentage of 16.5%.Rajouri district recorded the least voting percentage at 2.7% The Panthers Party formed part of the ruling coalition with

Harsh Dev Singh Harsh Dev Singh is the Indian politician. He was Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party from 2012 to 2022. He won three elections serving as MLA for Ramnagar, constituency for 18 continuous years from 1996 till 2014. Under his ...

as the party's first cabinet minister.

Electronic Voting Machines An electronic voting machine is a voting machine based on electronics. Two main technologies exist: '' optical scanning'' and '' direct recording'' (DRE). Optical scanning In an optical scan voting system, or marksense, each voter's choices ...

(EVMs) were used for first time in Jammu Kashmir assembly elections in 2002. The international community also appreciated the credibility of the elections and the results that followed it. The elections was seen as a victory of the ballot over the bullet. United States lauded 2002 elections of the state. There were 1.7 million voters in the state for 2002 elections.

Voting

Jammu Kashmir state elections, 2008 stages

The first phase voting took place on 16 September 2002. There was a polling station for just 11 voters in Zanskar. BJP contested on 52 seats while Jammu State Morcha contested on 12 seats. National Conference president

Omar Abdullah Omar Abdullah (; born 10 March 1970) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. He became the 11th and the youngest Chief Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, after forming a governme ...

contested from Ganderbal seat. Separatists had varied views on the elections ranging from voting to boycott of elections. The four stages of the elections were held as follows:

Results

!colspan=10, , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Seats ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Previously ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , +/– ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Vote % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Vote Share , - , style="text-align:left;" , National Conference , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 28 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 57 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , -29 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 20.8% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 7,49,825 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 20 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 7 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , +13 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 24.24% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6,43,751 , - , style="text-align:left;" , People's Democratic Party , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 16 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , - , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , +16 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 9.28% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 2,46,480 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , +3 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 3.83% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1,01,830 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 2 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0.88% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 23493 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 8 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , -7 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 8.57% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 2,27,633 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Bahujan Samaj Party , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , -3 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4.50% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1,19,492 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Democratic Movement , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0.62% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 16,366 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Jammu and Kashmir Awami League The Jammu and Kashmir Awami League is a political party in the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The party was founded by members of different counter-insurgent groups in November 1995. It supports article 370 of the In ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0.91% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 24,121 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Independents , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 13 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , % , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4,38,287 , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" , Total (turnout 43.70%) ! style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 87 ! style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 87 ! style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", ! style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", - ! style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", - , - ! colspan="9" , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Valid votes , align="right" , 26,55,570 , align="right" , 99.90 , colspan="4" rowspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Invalid votes , align="right" , 584 , align="right" , 0.10 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Votes cast / turnout , align="right" , 26,56,627 , align="right" , 43.70 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Abstentions , align="right" , 24,94,170 , align="right" , 56.30% , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Registered voters , align="right" , 60,78,570 , colspan="1" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=12 , Source: Election Commission of India JKNC became the single largest party with 28 seats. Congress became the second largest party with 25 seats. Omar Abdullah resigned as a chief minister on 24 December 2014.

Elected Members

References

{{Jammu and Kashmir elections Jammu and Kashmir 2002 2002