Kargil: Ladakh, independent candidate Hanifa Jaan surprises
Kargil: Independent candidate Muhammad Hanifa Jan surprised everyone by winning the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat defeating his nearest rival and Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal. Jan defeated Indian National Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal by a huge margin of 27,862 votes. Returning Officer of Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency Santosh Sukhdev declared Jan as the winner for the Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency. Sharing the details, the RO said that Jan got 64,443 votes through EVM and 816 postal ballot votes while Tsering Namgyal got 35,770 EVM votes and 1627 postal ballot votes and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Tashi Gyalson got 31,505 EVM votes and 451 postal ballot votes while 912 votes went to NOTA. Sukhdev handed over the certificate of victory to Jan. After being declared the winner, Jan thanked the people of Leh and Kargil districts for making him victorious. He said the result of the Ladakh parliamentary constituency was much better than his expectations. Jan said he will raise his voice for the people of Ladakh inside and outside Parliament.
“I will raise their demands and voice for the security and development of Ladakh,” he said. “My four demands include statehood for Ladakh, constitutional protection under the Sixth Schedule, reservation in jobs and setting up of a Public Service Commission (PSC) and two separate Parliament seats for Leh and Kargil districts.” Jan was fielded as an independent candidate by the Ladakh Democratic Alliance (LDA), an amalgam of social, religious and political groups in Kargil district. Jan, a former district president of the National Conference (NC), is the fourth independent candidate to win the seat since its formation in 1967. The seat was won by independent candidates in the 1989, 2004 and 2009 general elections.
The BJP won the seat in the 2014 general elections and retained it in 2019. The Congress has won the seat the most number of times, six times, while the National Conference has won the seat twice. Meanwhile, National Conference vice-president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah congratulated Jan. “@HajiHanifa, I am so happy for you today. A few months ago, you faced defeat in the Hill Council elections and now you will represent the marginalised people of Ladakh, especially Kargil, in the Lok Sabha. Your victory cost @JKNC_ its Kargil unit, but it was a price well worth it,” Abdullah wrote on Twitter. Kargil’s LAHDC chief executive councillor Muhammad Jafar Akhun also congratulated Jan. “Congratulations to Haji Muhammad Hanifa Jan on getting a clear mandate from the people of Ladakh and winning the Lok Sabha seat from Ladakh with a huge margin. This victory has proven the commitment of the people of Ladakh to protect their interests and stand with leaders working to secure Ladakh’s future. I hope you will work closely with LAHDC to take Ladakh on the path of development and prosperity. I wish you great success in the new role,” Akhun said. Kargil Democratic Alliance co-chairmen Asgar Ali Karbalai and Qamar Ali Akhun and prominent socio-political activist of Kargil Sajjad Hussain Kargili congratulated Jan and wished him all the best.
