The 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election was held in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in five phases from 25 November – 20 December 2014. Voters elected 87 members to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. The results were declared on 23 December 2014. Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) along with EVMs were used in 3 assembly seats out of 87 in Jammu Kashmir elections. Following the election, the Jammu & Kashmir People's Democratic Party (PDP) formed a coalition government with the BJP and their leader, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed became the state's Chief minister. BJP leader Nirmal Kumar Singh became the deputy chief minister.
This was the last assembly election before the territory's special status was revoked and Ladakh separated as union territory in 2019.
Parties Party FlagElectoral symbolLeaderSeats contestedIndian National CongressGhulam Nabi Azad86Jammu & Kashmir National ConferenceFarooq Abdulla85Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party Mufti Mohammed Sayeed84Bharatiya Janata PartyNirmal Kumar Singh75
Background and campaign Before the election, Indian National Congress broke its alliance with Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and contested on all seats in the assembly.
Campaigning before the elections were aggressive and robust. Following the huge victory of Bharatiya Janata Party in the Indian parliamentary election, the BJP turned its attention towards J&K and campaigned on the promise of 'development'. This included a visit from the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi in support of the local BJP campaign.
Boycott Calls Hardline separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had appealed to people of Kashmir to boycott the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections completely, arguing that "India has been holding elections in the Valley using the power of the gun and so such an exercise is not legitimate." He added, "My appeal to the youth, in particular, is that the sacrifices rendered by the people must be safeguarded and, hence, in no way should vote during elections." Separatists were propagating the poll boycott campaign through video clips on social networking sites and applications, including Facebook and WhatsApp. A four-minute video clip has gone viral on social sites with messages of chairmen of both hardline and moderate factions of Hurriyat Conference and Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi. The video message sent through WhatsApp and shared on Facebook and Twitter asked the people to boycott the coming polls. Video also showed Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani addressing a gathering via phone urging youth not to undermine the mission of 'martyrs'. Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is seen posing for the camera with the appeal that polls must be boycotted 'en masse'.
Despite these calls, voter turnout in the 2014 elections instead increased by 4%, from roughly 61% in the previous election to 65%.
Voting The polls were carried out in five phases. Despite several boycott calls by hurriyat leaders, elections recorded highest voters turnout in last 25 years. Voters turnout was more than 65% which is higher than usual voting percentage in other states of India.
Date Seats Turnout Tuesday 25 November 15 71.28 Tuesday 2 December 18 71.00 Tuesday 9 December 16 58.89 Sunday 14 December 18 49.00 Saturday 20 December 20 76.00 Total 87 65.23 Source:
The European Parliament, on the behalf of European Union, welcomed the smooth conduct of the State Legislative Elections in the Jammu and Kashmir. The EU in its message said that, "The high voter turnout figure proves that democracy is firmly rooted in India. The EU would like to congratulate India and its democratic system for conduct of fair elections, unmarred by violence, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir". The European Parliament also takes cognizance of the fact that a large number of Kashmiri voters turned out despite calls for the boycott of elections by certain separatist forces. However, elected Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed said, "If God forbid the Hurriyat and the militants tried to disrupt the elections there would not have been as participative as they had been. They (Pakistan) also allowed these elections to take place." Ruling Party president Mehbooba Mufti also defended Mufti's remarks. While taking a dig at Mufti's statement former Chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said that, "In fact, Pakistan and militant groups tried their best to destabilize the democratic process in the state."
Results +ResultsPartyPopular voteSeatsVotes%±ppContestedWon+/−Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party10,92,20322.677.3184287Bharatiya Janata Party11,07,19422.9810.55752514Jammu & Kashmir National Conference10,00,69320.772.27851513Indian National Congress8,67,88318.010.2986125Jammu & Kashmir People's Conference93,1821.931.932622Communist Party of India (Marxist)24,0170.500.3031Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party95,9411.991.406003Independents3,29,8816.859.4927431Others1,57,8583.282.5913811NOTA49,1291.021.0287Total48,17,981100Valid votes48,17,98199.90Invalid votes4,7950.10Votes cast/ turnout48,22,77665.91Abstentions24,94,17034.09Registered voters73,16,946
Result by Division +DistrictSeatsBJPNCPDPINCOTHKashmir460122545Ladakh400031Jammu37253351Total87251528127
Result by Division (Vote Share) +DivisionBJPNCPDPINCKashmir2.2429.2037.4312.76Ladakh22.148.1011.7750.72Jammu40.1514.3910.9920.84Total22.9820.7722.6718.01 Note: All figures used here are expressed as percentages (%).
Results by District +DivisionDistrictSeatsBJPNCPDPINCOTHKashmirKupwara500203Baramulla701510Bandipora302010Ganderbal202000Srinagar803500Budgam502201Pulwama400400Shopian200200Kulgam401111Anantnag601410LadakhLeh200020Kargil200011JammuKishtwar210010Doda220000Ramban210010Reasi310020Udhampur320001Kathua550000Samba220000Jammu1192000Rajouri420200Poonch301110Total87251528127
Results by Constituency