CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on October 9

THE contrasting results thrown up by Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana state elections, the resounding success in Jammu & Kashmir and the unexpected setback in the latter provide valuable lessons for secular forces in the struggle against BJP in the days to come.

In Jammu & Kashmir, the National Conference and its allies won a comfortable majority to form the first elected government after six years of central government’s authoritarian rule.  The unambiguous mandate of the people in Jammu & Kashmir is a rebuff to the machinations of the BJP central government to scuttle the democratic aspirations of the people through abrogation of Article 370, abolition of statehood through bifurcation of the state into two union territories and the manipulative delimitation of the constituencies.

In Haryana, the BJP managed to secure a majority of seats in a close fight with the Congress, but with a narrow margin of 0.6 per cent vote share over Congress. Its success is marked by micro-caste mobilisation and insidious communal propaganda.  The Congress will have to introspect as to the other factors responsible for this verdict.

The CPI(M) congratulates the people of Kulgam constituency in Jammu & Kashmir for electing Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami for the fifth time.