Counting for the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election – the first since Article 370 was scrapped and the first since the 2014 poll – began 8 am. The race to control the former state’s 90 Assembly seats is predicted to be a close one, with exit polls handing the Congress-National Conference alliance a slight edge.
In very early leads (counting of postal ballots), the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is contesting independently, and the Congress-NC are neck-and-neck with seven seats each. The People’s Democratic Party of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is leading in one seat.
Amid the excitement of a first Assembly election in 10 years, the BJP and the Congress alliance have both already claimed victory.
