Election for the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir were held on 23 March 1987. Farooq Abdullah was reappointed as the Chief Minister.Statistical Report on the General Election, 1987, Election Commission of India, New Delhi.

The election is widely perceived to have been rigged. After the following elections to the Parliament in 1989, which saw low turn-out, Governor's Rule was declared in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990, which lasted till 1996.

The 1987 election was a watershed in the politics of the Jammu and Kashmir state.

Background

The background of the 1987 election is fraught with multiple complexities.

During the long years of imprisonment of Sheikh Abdullah, his loyalists split off from the National Conference party and formed a Plebiscite Front. The remaining members of the National Conference merged their party with the Indian National Congress.

After Abdullah's release and his accord with Indira Gandhi, the Congress party accepted him as its own Head and elected him as the State's Chief Minister. However, during the 1977 election, Abdullah shunned the Congress party and revived a new National Conference party from the erstwhile Plebiscite Front. He won the election handsomely.

After Sheikh Abdullah's death, the Congress party again sought an alliance with the National Conference for the 1983 election. It was again shunned and the new leader Farooq Abdullah won the election independently. Congress however emerged as the de facto party of the Jammu region. Congress exploited the internal squabbles in the National Conference and teamed up with Farooq's brother-in-law G. M. Shah to topple Farooq's government. This led to a period of instability during which the Governor's Rule was imposed.

After Rajiv Gandhi became the leader of the Indian National Congress, another accord was reached with Farooq Abdullah. The Governor's Rule was lifted and Farooq returned to power in 1986, but with the understanding that Congress and the National Conference would ally for the 1987 election. In the view of scholar Sten Widmalm, the State's two largest parties had formed an 'election cartel', which had the result that popular discontent could not be channelled.

Before the election, various anti-establishment groups including Jamaat-e-Islami joined hands to form a Muslim United Front (MUF) mainly pointing out that the NC had capitulated before the Centre for the sake of power and bartered away the special status of the State. Efforts were made to arouse Muslim sentiments along communal lines. MUF's election manifesto stressed the need for a solution to all outstanding issues according to Simla Agreement, work for Islamic unity and against political interference from the centre. Their slogan was wanting the law of the Quran in the Assembly.

The NC-Congress(I) combine contested all the 76 seats and the MUF, 43 seats.

Voting The election was held on 23 March 1987. Nearly 75 percent of the voters participated, the highest recorded participation in the state. Nearly eighty percent of the people in the Valley voted.

Elections for Bhadrawah, Leh and Kargil were held in June 1987.

Results

The NC-Congress alliance won 66 seats in the Assembly: NC winning 40 seats of the 45 it contested, and Congress winning 26 out of 31 (5 out of 6 contested seats in the Valley). The alliance received only 53% of the popular vote but garnered 87% of the seats.

The BJP won 2 seats, in Jammu. The MUF expected to win 10 seats out of the 44 seats it contested. But it won only 4 seats, even though it had polled 31% votes. Syed Ali Shah Geelani of Jamaat-e-Islami (a constituent of MUF) won from Sopore.

The disparity between the popular vote and the seat wins was very high. (In comparison, in 1983, the NC and Congress polled 78% of the vote to achieve 95% of the seats.) Scholar Sten Widmalm explains the increased disparity as an effect of forming an "election cartel" (between the NC and Congress), which had a dominant effect in the first-past-the-post election system used in India. The cartel's victory seemed unfair to many Jammu and Kashmir voters, which was magnified when allegations of fraud came to the surface.; : "The unusually poor correlation between votes and seats may possibly have planted unfounded suspicion in the minds of those who were unaware of the peculiarities of the majority election system with single-member constituencies."

The MUF's garnering of 31% of the vote in its first electoral contest has been described as a 'huge' success. Journalist Balraj Puri states that the MUF emerged as the main alternative to the NC-Congress alliance in all parts of the Valley, except the four constituencies of the Kupwara district where People's Conference came in the second place.

The People's Conference did not win a seat despite having been expected to do well in the constituencies of Bandipora, Sangrama, Handwara, and Kupwara. They still managed to capture 93,949 votes.

Results by constituency Winner, runner-up, voter turnout, and victory margin in every constituencyAssembly ConstituencyTurnout WinnerRunner UpMargin #k Names% Candidate Party Votes% Candidate Party Votes%1Karnah77.02%Sharifuddin Shariq20,26950.88%Abdul Rashid Mirchl14,84437.26%5,4252Handwara82.19%Chowdary Mohammed Ramzan20,42346.93%Abdul Ghani Lone19,09343.88%1,3303Langate80.15%Abdul Ahad Wani10,67639.57%Ghulam Quadir Lone9,37134.73%1,3054Kupwara69.44%Mushtaq Ahmad Lone12,58537.06%Abdul Haq Khan10,80631.83%1,7795Bandipora76.66%Ghulam Rasool Mir17,89446.25%Nizam-Ud-Din14,66837.91%3,2266Sonawari76.98%Mohammed Ud-Din Kochey26,81967.53%Abdul Khaliq Haneef11,14628.06%15,6737Pattan82.03%Aga Syed Mahmood Almosvi16,87144.02%Moulvi Mustafa Hussain9,29124.24%7,5808Gulmarg78.95%Sheikh Mustafa Kamal19,26062.36%Ghulam Hassan Mir10,52634.08%8,7349Sangrama74.5%Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhat10,50941.25%Vakil Abdul Majid6,81026.73%3,69910Sopore84.75%Syed Ali Shah Geelani24,39254.24%Abdul Ahmad Vakil19,94244.35%4,45011Rafiabad77.31%Ghulam Mohammed Khan12,37839.99%Abdul Majid Bhat7,06622.83%5,31212Baramulla77.35%Shiekh Mohammed Maqbol16,24748.06%Ghulam Mohmad14,81143.81%1,43613Uri83.42%Mohammad Shafi27,79389.61%Abdul Rehman2,5658.27%25,22814Kangan80.48%Mian Altaf Ahmed Larvi14,64446.04%Ghulam Mohammed War9,95231.29%4,69215Ganderbal83.37%Farooq Abdullah30,25578.75%Abdul Khaliq Sofi7,44619.38%22,80916Hazratbal76.98%Mohmad Yasin Shah19,16761.41%Syed Fayaz Naqashbandi7,93625.43%11,23117Amira Kadal71.39%Ghulam Mohi-Ud-Din Shoh19,56755.35%Mohammed Yussouf Shoh15,27843.22%4,28918Habba Kadal60.06%Piyare Lal Handoo17,24048.51%Mushtaq Ahmad15,95144.89%1,28919Zaina Kadal75.56%Ali Mohammad Charloo22,82064.42%Firdous Atta12,24334.56%10,57720Eidgah76.63%Mohammed Shafi Khan26,90470.41%Bashir Ahmed11,12229.11%15,78221Zadibal71.24%Peer Mohammed Shafi27,31654.42%Peer Abdul Rouf22,12144.07%5,19522Nagin99.89%Abdul Samad Teli14,09348.24%Hakim Mohammed Jawad12,51042.82%1,58323Beerwah74.12%Syed Ahmad Syed15,34147.28%Ghulam Mohammed Mir10,01630.87%5,32524Khan Sahib82.21%Ghulam Mohmad Mir24,18070.03%Ghulam Qadir War4,16612.07%20,01425Budgam82.74%Syed Ghulam Hussain Geelani18,91144.96%Mohammed Sultan Bhat12,55629.85%6,35526Chadoora72.97%Mir Mustafa12,92040.59%Abdul Samad Mir11,51436.17%1,40627Charari Sharief85.54%Abdul Rahim Rather25,44782.94%Abdul Rashid3,0629.98%22,38528Pulwama80.99%Bashir Ahmed Nengroo23,29759.57%Mushtaq Ahmed14,91038.12%8,38729Pampore81.8%Ghulam Mohi Ud Din22,18657.33%Ali Mohammed Lone15,38339.75%6,80330Tral87.45%Ghulam Nabi Naik13,62935.17%Mohmad Sultan12,27431.67%1,35531Wachi83.42%Nazir Ahmad Wani17,90049.66%Mohmad Abdullah17,77849.33%12232Shopian81.68%Sheikh Mohammad Mansoor18,08348.%Abdul Ahad Thoker17,74747.11%33633Noorabad82.33%Abdul Aziz Zargar27,13276.51%Bashir Ahmad Malik7,43020.95%19,70234Devsar77.85%Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad17,16950.49%Hamid Ulla Rangrez14,55042.79%2,61935Kulgam79.97%Haji Abdul Pazak Mir15,60749.95%Ghulam Nabi Dar12,03138.5%3,57636Hom Shali Bugh84.91%Ghulam Nabi20,88658.22%Abdul Salam Deva14,18039.52%6,70637Pahalgam77.7%Rafi Ahmad Mir16,25752.89%Ghulam Nabi Hagroo13,47643.84%2,78138Srigufwara–Bijbehara83.06%Abdul Gani Shah16,81847.72%Mohammed Sultan16,71847.44%10039Anantnag83.8%Mohammed Syeed Shah24,80073.92%Mirza Masood Beg8,09524.13%16,70540Shangus–Anantnag East81.38%Abdul Rashid Dar14,28343.97%Jamseed Ghulam Mohammed 8,23725.36%6,04641Kokernag87.95%Peerzada Mohammad Syed28,46380.92%Mohammed Abdulla Sheikh4,77813.58%23,68542Dooru74.94%Mohammed Akbar Ganie13,82649.6%Noor Ud Din Shah12,59445.18%1,23243Leh68.25%Tsering Samphel16,14256.39%Tokdan Rinpochey7,13824.94%9,00444Kargil78.64%Qamar Ali Akhoon35,55988.93%Kachoo Mohammed Ali Khan4,42711.07%31,13245Kishtwar69.85%Bashir Ahmed Kichloo18,04467.95%Man Mohan3,30912.46%14,73546Inderwal65.5%Shareef Naiz27,06990.78%Sheikh Ghulam Mohammed 1,0453.5%26,02447Bhaderwah (SC)51.4%Hari Lal11,77254.17%Gian Chand8,33338.34%3,43948Doda78.05%Attaullah Sohrawardi29,23292.46%Chuni Lal1,3954.41%27,83749Ramban66.9%Bharat Gandhi14,33958.32%Tirth Singh8,59734.97%5,74250Banihal64.32%Molvi Abdul Rashid13,94957.92%Mohammed Akhter Nizam6,05625.15%7,89351Gulabgarh72.36%Haji Buland Khan15,54548.37%Abdul Gani11,14334.67%4,40252Reasi66.58%Mohammed Ayub Khan15,54546.99%Jagjiwan Lal5,76217.42%9,78353Udhampur64.93%Balak Ram18,84753.72%Shiv Charan Gupta13,55238.63%5,29554Chenani62.86%Yash Paul Khajuria15,84256.01%Thakur Dass Chanotra10,46236.99%5,38055Ramnagar (SC)51.01%Chandhu Lal14,31158.77%Girdhari Lal6,80727.95%7,50456Samba70.2%Parkash Sharma10,31827.34%Hoshiar Singh7,40719.63%2,91157Bari Brahmana (SC)76.69%Swaran Lata14,53945.51%Gurnbachan Kumari8,46626.5%6,07358Bishnah (SC)66.2%Parma Nand16,31953.65%Gian Chand6,49521.35%9,82459Ranbir Singh Pora–Jammu South77.47%Ranjit Singh14,04337.51%Thakur Dass9,52325.44%4,52060Jammu Cantonment68.24%H. S. Bali10,97026.62%Trilochan Dutta10,11024.54%86061Jammu West (SC)61.52%Mangat Ram Sharma16,20448.99%Chander Mohan Sharma10,13030.63%6,07462Jammu East63.74%Chaman Lal Gupta13,93049.52%Ved Parkash10,69738.02%3,23363Jandrah Gharota72.59%Shiv Dev Singh13,12134.56%Rattan Chand Gandhi8,88723.41%4,23464Marh (SC)78.5%Mula Ram17,16252.24%Sat Pal11,81835.97%5,34465Akhnoor79.78%Govind Ram Sharma19,64259.52%Dharam Pal9,20227.88%10,44066Chhamb81.06%Madan Lal15,52752.5%Ram Nath10,79536.5%4,73267Basohli (SC)61.64%Jagdish Raj Sapolia11,32240.69%Lal Chand10,05436.14%1,26868Billawar (SC)60.71%Swram Singh17,73158.99%Loknath Sangra7,14323.76%10,58869Kathua (SC)70.08%Om Parkash16,80549.61%Kulbhushan Kumar10,17530.04%6,63070Hiranagar71.97%Baldev Singh17,08845.17%Ram Das Dogra14,58038.54%2,50871Nowshera68.54%Beli Ram24,05360.51%Balwant Singh5,80814.61%18,24572Darhal75.78%Chowdhary Mohmmad Hussain28,70764.34%Mohammed Sadiq Malik13,49630.25%15,21173Rajouri82.74%Mirsa Abdul Rashid33,44372.02%Chowdhary Talib Hussain10,64822.93%22,79574Surankote80.35%Aslam Chowdhary Mohammad26,39468.81%Mohammed Ayub Shabnam11,67730.44%14,71775Mendhar (SC)80.64%Nisar Ahamed Khan19,82052.46%Lal Mohammed Sabir16,04942.48%3,77176Haveli67.84%Chaudhry Bashir Ahmed19,10356.22%Ghulam Ahmed Ganai14,38442.33%4,719

Electoral malpractice India Today reported that "starting about two weeks before the election, 600 opposition workers were arrested in areas where the MUF, independents, and PC [People's Conference] candidates were showing strength".

In the Amira Kadal constituency of Srinagar, MUF's Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah was a candidate. As the vote-counting began, it was becoming clear that Yusuf Shah was winning by a landslide. His opponent, Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, went home dejected. But he was summoned back by the electoral officials and declared the winner. When the crowds protested, the police arrived and arrested Yusuf Shah and his supporters. They were held in custody till the end of 1987.