The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of seven Kashmir-based mainstream parties, has secured a clear lead in the District Development Council (DDC) polls.
Of the 280 seats that went to polls, the leads on 258 seats have indicated that the PAGD has either won or is leading on 107 segments, the BJP is leading on 65 segments, the Congress on 22, Apni Party which was launched after the abrogation of Article 370 on 10 and others on 54 segments.
As expected, the PAGD has bagged most of the seats from the Kashmir valley while BJP has fared well in its traditional bastion of Jammu.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti said the DDC poll results show that the people have rejected "the unconstitutional decision to abrogate Article 370" and have "overwhelmingly supported" the PAGD and endorsed its plan seeking restoration of J&K's special status.
"Todays DDC results have made it clear that people of J&K voted en masse for @JKPAGD thus rejecting the unconstitutional decision to abrogate Article 370. They have overwhelmingly supported @JKPAGD which stands for restoration of J&Ks special status," Mufti tweeted.
She dedicated the victory to the PAGD cadre and added that the Centre had left no stone unturned "to create hurdles". "Beginning with @parawahid’s arrest a day after he filed his DDC nominations, restricting our movement & not allowing us to campaign," she said.
"I was illegally detained thrice over the course of a fortnight. PAGD candidates were locked up in a government building while others barred from canvassing. Despite all these obstacles PAGD emerged as winners. This has been a hard earned victory for all us," Mufti added.
"Even after a split in PDP engineered by GOI & all the attempts to write us off, my cadre worked day & night to ensure party’s victory. I am extremely grateful to them," she said in a follow-up tweet.
