None of the three parties that fought the elections on the plank of separate statehood for Jammu won a single seat in the region. In fact, all the candidates of these parties failed to get even one per cent of the vote share in their respective constituencies and had to forfeit their deposits.

Jammu State Morcha (Progressive), contesting from more than a dozen constituencies, lost on all seats, with its leader Prof Virender Gupta getting just 451 votes or 0.53 per cent of the valid votes in Jammu West. The Duggar Pradesh Party, contesting from four constituencies fared even worse with its leader Uday Chand getting just 172 votes in Jammu West, clinching a vote share of 0.20 per cent. Similarly, Peoples Revolutionary Movement leader Rajinder Singh Jamwal, contesting from Vijaypur constituency, got 586 votes which was 0.76 of the total valid vote share.

In the aftermath of the Amarnath agitation, there was speculation that the separate statehood demand for Jammu would resonate with electors, but that has clearly not been the case.

Observers believe that one factor contributing to this monumental failure is the inability of these parties to present a united face — in some constituencies, they even fought elections against each other, as in Jammu West, Bishnah and Vijaypur. In addition, these small parties lacked adequate resources for effective campaigning. In 2002, the RSS had backed these forces, but did not do so this time around.

In July this year, the pro-Amarnath protests gave a fillip to the demand for separate statehood, and more than a dozen organisations and political parties came on one platform under the banner of Jammu State Front. But after the agitation, this consolidation could not ensure any electoral advantage to these forces.

... contd.