Elections for the former

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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

Jammu & Kashmir National Conference The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) is a regional political party in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir union territory and Ladakh. Founded as the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference by ...

was the single largest party but lacked majority. The

Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a state political party in Jammu and Kashmir, India. The PDP was headed and founded by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. His daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, succeeded him as party leader and as chief ...

(PDP) and the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

(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 and 2021. He also served as the Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. On 26 Septemb ...

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 as the party's first cabinet minister. Electronic Voting Machines (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

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 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;" , 28.24% , 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)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

, 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 List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

, 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 The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...

, 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 , 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;" , 16.50% , 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 The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

JKNC became the single largest party with 28 seats. Congress became the second largest party with 25 seats. Farooq Abdullah resigned as a chief minister on 24 December 2002.

Results by constituency

References

{{Jammu and Kashmir elections Jammu and Kashmir

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...