Srinagar- There are 51 first-time MLAs among the 90 members elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in the first polls held for the Union Territory’s legislature.
The National Conference (NC), which has emerged as the single-largest party in the election with 42 seats, has the highest number of debutant MLAs at 24.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which swept the polls in the Jammu plains winning 29 seats, is second in terms of seats won as well as the number of first-time MLAs. The saffron party has 15 first-time MLAs, accounting for more than half of its tally.
The Congress, which fared poorly in the Jammu region but got six face-saving seats in the Kashmir valley, has two debutant MLAs while six of the seven Independent candidates who won the polls have become members of the elite House for the first time.
All three elected members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the lone Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA are first timers in the Assembly.
Prominent among the first-time MLAs are PDP youth president Waheed Para, a businessman, AAP MLA from Doda Mehraj Malik and the NC’s Mushtaq Ahmad Guroo, who defeated Apni Party president and former minister Altaf Bukhari.
Several newly-elected MLAs have been members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha or the Legislative Council in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Among them is former high court judge and NC leader Hasnain Masoodi, who was a member of the Lok Sabha from 2019 to 2024.
Masoodi was elected to the Assembly from Pampore.
PDP leader Mir Mohammad Fayaz, who won the electoral contest from Kupwara, was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2015 to 2021. The 47-year-old had lost the 2014 Assembly polls by a slender margin of 151 votes.
NC leaders Bashir Ahmad Veeri (Srigufwara-Bijbehara), Saifuddin Bhat (Khansahib), Javaid Ahmad Mirchal (Karnah), Surinder Kumar Choudhary (Nowshera) and Showkat Hussain Ganie (Zainapora) have in the past been members of the Legislative Council.
From the BJP, Vikram Randhawa, who won the Bahu seat in Jammu, was a member of the Upper House of the legislature in the past.
The Upper House of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature was abolished following the reorganisation of the erstwhile state into two Union territories.
Parihar Youngest, Rather Oldest
BJP’s 29-year-old Shagun Parihar is the youngest member of the newly elected Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, while National Conference veteran Abdul Rahim Rather aged 80 is the oldest member.
Parihar, who lost her father and uncle in a terror attack in 2018, is the only member of assembly below the age of 30 while Rather, the seven-time MLA from Chara-e-Sharief, is the only octogenarian in the house, data compiled by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reveals.
According to the ADR data, the average age of an MLA in Jammu and Kashmir is 55.71 years, which is reflected in the number of legislators with 32 falling in the age group of 51 to 60 years.
Among the 10 youngest newly-elected MLAs are PDP’s Waheed Para (Pulwama), Aam Admi Party’s Mehraj Malik (Doda), NC’s Mehar Ali (Kangan), independent Rameshwar Singh (Bani) and BJP’s Sunil Bharadwaj (Ramnagar).
Congress MLA from Bandipora Nizamuddin Bhat at 77 is the second oldest member followed by CPI(M)’s Kulgam MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami who is 75 years old.
National Conference’s (NC) Eidgah MLA Mubarak Gul aged 73, while Beerwah MLA Mohammad Shafi Wani (NC), Pattan MLA Javaid Riyaz (NC) and Anantnag MLA P M Sayeed (Congress) are all 71.
The other elected septuagenarians include NC’s Hasnain Masoodi (Pampore), BJP’s Surjit Slathia (Samba) and his party colleague Baldev Raj (Shri Mata Vaishno Devi).
According to ADR, 23 MLAs are between the ages of 41 and 50 years, while 22 members are in the age group of 61 to 70 years. There are six MLAs who are aged below 40, including Parihar, the first time legislator from Kishtwar seat in Jammu region.
The polls right body also found that there has been no change in the composition of the assembly in terms of gender ratio.
There were three women MLAs in the last assembly which was dissolved in the 2018 elections and the number has remained unchanged this year too.
In 2014, NC’s Shamima Firdous and PDP’s Asiea Naqash were the only two women to get elected but PDP president Mehbooba Mufti joined them in the House after getting elected in the 2016 bypoll held after the death of her father and then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Shamima Firdous has retained her Habbakadal seat while Sakina Masood managed to regain the D H Pora seat which she had lost in 2014 elections.
Debutant Parihar from Kishtwar has joined them this year.
In the poll results declared by the Election Commission on Tuesday, the alliance of the NC and Congress, who are constituents of the opposition grouping INDIA bloc, won 48 of the 90 seats at stake. The BJP with 29 seats emerged as the second largest party improving its all-time high tally of 25 in 2014 elections.
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