Jamaat-e-Islami Fails Kashmir Election Test

None of its candidates won. Most of them lost badly.

The banned Jamaat-e-Islami, which had fielded Independent candidates from nine assembly seats in Kashmir in the hope of playing kingmaker, proved to be a dud when the results were announced on Tuesday, October 8, 2024.

The party neither won a single seat nor made any impression on Kashmiri voters who rejected all the Jamaat-backed Independent candidates.

The Jamaat did not contest a single seat in Jammu.

Its most prominent face, Independent candidate Sayar Ahmed Reshi, lost by 7,838 votes against Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami of the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kulgam.

Tarigami secured 33,634 votes, while Reshi obtained 25,796 votes.

Political analysts had believed that it would be difficult for the 77-year-old Tarigami to retain his seat against a young Jamaat candidate, but the Marxist veteran proved them wrong.

The CPI-M contested Kulgam in alliance with the Congress and National Conference.

Kulgam was a Jamaat stronghold till 1987 and the party used to win elections in the constituency till it began boycotting polls after 1987.

In the 1987 elections, which the Jamaat claimed was rigged, its candidate Mohammad Yusuf Shah had contested the poll from Amirkadal in Srinagar on a Muslim United Front ticket.

After he lost the 1987 elections, Shah took to the gun, became known as Syed Salahuddin and formed the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group.

Another well-known Jamaat leader was the late Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who later joined the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

The Jamaat got a boost this election when Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid's Awami Ittehad Party called on Kashmiris to support Jamaat-backed Independent candidates.

The Jamaat was hoping to play a role similar to Nitish Kumar or N Chandrababu Naidu at the Centre if its candidates won the 2024 assembly elections.

Jamaat-backed candidate and terror accused Sikandar Malik came sixth in the Bandipora constituency.

Bandipora was won by Nizamuddin Bhat of the Congress by 20,391 votes, with Independent candidate Usman Abdul Majid coming second.

Sikandar Malik, who campaigned while on bail with a GPS tracker around his anklet, won only 2,411 votes.

In other assembly constituencies like Devsar, Zainpora, Pulwama, Beerwah, Langate, Sopore, Baramulla and Rafiabad Jamaat candidates were swept aside by the National Conference wave.

• Battle For Two States 2024