A land dispute, a collapsed coalition, and a second hung house
What happened
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference won the most seats in Jammu & Kashmir, in a hung result with no party reaching a majority.
It took 28 of 87 seats.
That was 23.1% of the vote, well short of the 44-seat majority mark.
The Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party followed, with 21 seats on 15.4% of the vote.
The campaign
On 26 May 2008 the state government approved transferring 40 hectares of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board, and unrest followed across the Kashmir Valley. The Peoples Democratic Party withdrew from its coalition with Congress, and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned on 7 July.1
In Jammu, the Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti kept up a months-long agitation and highway blockade over the land transfer, and its convener, Leela Karan Sharma, pressed the group's demands again on 6 August.2
During the campaign, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference called on Kashmiris to boycott the vote, describing it as a futile exercise that would never fulfil the aspirations of the people.3
The election that followed ran in seven phases through December, and turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — reached 60.5%, despite the calls for a boycott.1
- 1Amarnath Land Row Triggers Coalition Collapse and the 2008 Poll — Amarnath land transfer controversy, 2008 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election
- 2Jammu's Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti Continues Agitation — Amarnath land transfer controversy
- 3Hurriyat Conference Calls for Election Boycott — 2008 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election
What changed
JKN's own seat count barely moved, even though many constituencies changed hands beneath it.
It won 28 seats, unchanged from the 28 it won last time.
That extended its own run at the top to 6 elections in a row.
Even so, 54 of 87 constituencies elected a different party than they had at the previous election.
Turnout rose +18.3 pp from the previous election.
Notable numbers
The closest race was at Sonawar, Jammu & Kashmir, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of 94 votes.
Khanyar, Jammu & Kashmir saw the widest margin of the election, with the winner ahead by 64.7% of the vote.
Turnout peaked at Marh, Jammu & Kashmir, reaching 82.0%.
It was lowest at Habba Kadal, Jammu & Kashmir, at 11.6%, in the Kashmir Valley where the All Parties Hurriyat Conference had called for a boycott of the vote.3
Gandhi Nagar, Jammu & Kashmir was the largest constituency by registered voters, with 1,43,629 on its rolls.
Jammu West, Jammu & Kashmir drew the most candidates of any seat, 34 names on the ballot.
- 3Hurriyat Conference Calls for Election Boycott — 2008 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election
The backdrop
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed founded the Peoples Democratic Party in 1999, and after the 2002 election, with no party reaching a majority, it formed a coalition government with the Indian National Congress under a rotating chief minister arrangement.4
Sayeed served first as chief minister, before Congress's Ghulam Nabi Azad took over from November 2005.4
- 4Peoples Democratic Party Founded, Enters Government After 2002 Poll — Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, 2002 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election, Ghulam Nabi Azad