2002 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election
Elections for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir were held in September -October 2002 in four phases.
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all 87 seats in Legislative Assembly 44 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 6,165,285 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 43.70% (10.22%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jammu & Kashmir National Conference was the single largest party but lacked majority. The Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Indian National Congress (Congress) formed a coalition government with PDP's Mufti Mohammad Sayeed serving as the Chief Minister for the first three years and Congress's Ghulam Nabi Azad for the next three years. The election saw a major boycott at the appeal of Tehreek -e-Hurriyat.Kashmir division had a voting percentage of 3.5% while Jammu division had a voting percentage of 16.5%.Rajouri district recorded the least voting percentage at 2.7% The Panthers Party formed part of the ruling coalition with Harsh Dev Singh as the party's first cabinet minister.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were used for first time in Jammu Kashmir assembly elections in 2002. The international community also appreciated the credibility of the elections and the results that followed it. The elections was seen as a victory of the ballot over the bullet. United States lauded 2002 elections of the state. There were 1.7 million voters in the state for 2002 elections.