Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar

Communism as a political ideology may be fading away across the world, in the Muslim-majority Kashmir, CPI(M) veteran Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami has won his election to the J&K Legislative Assembly for the fifth consecutive.

The 75-year-old CPI(M) central committee member has won from his home constituency of Kulgam, Sotuh Kashmir, in a fiercely fought election.

His victory is all the more significant as he was pitted against a former senior official of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami Sayar Ahmad Reshi. The 42-year-old Reshi was the Assistant Director of its Education wing, Falah-e-Aam Trust from 2017. Also, Kulgam was once known as the bastion of Jamaat and its militant organization Hizbul Mujahideen.

Tarigami faced threats from terrorists and he could not visit home for years.

Tarigami won with an impressive margin of 8,000 votes in a multi-cornered contest.

He was first elected to the State Legislative Assembly from Kulgam in 1996 when the elections were held after seven years after the eruption of armed militancy in 1989-90.

He registered his victory against a wave of Islamisation as his rivals labeled him “Ladeen” (Man without a religion)

The contest for Tarigami was tough as he told Awaz-the Voice amidst campaigning, “Despite they contesting as independents the fact is that Jamaat is a banned organization. Why are they allowed to openly participate?”

He said, “They (Jamaat) were talking differently (in the past) and now have changed their stand which needs to be explained”.  He also blamed the government in Srinagar and Delhi for “facilitating” Jamaat-backed independents despite having a record of violent activities.”

However, of all the  Jamaat-e-Islami proxy candidates Reshi, put up a fight, securing over 25,000 votes and eventually losing to CPI(M) leader by around 8,000 votes.

Of the ten Jamaat-e-Islami proxy candidates,  eight forfeited their deposits. Their defeat smashed the myth that common people have support for divisive elements that played a part in three decades of terrorism, social unrest, and killings.

The pro-NC wave in Kashmir and pro-BJP wave in Jammu were so pronounced that out of 873 candidates who ran for the 90 assembly seats, 666 candidates -- 76.28% of the total, forfeited deposits. This has earned the Election Commission of India an amount of little more than Rs 1.60 crore.

Besides, entities like the Awami Itehad Party floated by the much-hyped Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid, Peoples Conference of Sajad Ghani Lone, and Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party were content with one each seat in the election and fizzled out as a phenomenon.

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The Peoples’Democratic Party (PDP) led by former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti did not perform well as it won only three seats and it’s the most dismal performance of the party so far. Founder Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija who received huge coverage in the media, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of an NC candidate; so did her Uncle.