J&K’s Tarigami Gets His High ‘Five’: Meet CPM’s Lone Fighter From Kulgam Who Has Been Winning Polls Since 1996

In the past 30 years, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has seen a lot of changes, but the voting pattern of Kulgam, which has been electing Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami non-stop since 1996, hasn’t.

The erstwhile state turned into a union territory, lost its special status, saw changes in the ruling party and what not. But Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM)’s Tarigami stood strong in his area without fail in the elections held in the state in 1996, 2002, 2008, 2014 and 2024.

In his fifth victory, which was announced on Tuesday, he secured the highest ever votes (33,634) and his second best margin (7,838 votes). He bagged 44.86% votes in the assembly, also his second best. The results of 1996 – his first victory from the seat – holds the record of his best margin (16,166 votes) and vote share (69.65%).

The CPM had only fielded one candidate this time, although in the past, others from the party have tried their luck. The election of 2002 was the only time when two CPM candidates won in J&K. In the rest of the elections, Tarigami was the sole winning leader from his party. The CPM fielded four candidates in 1996, seven candidates in 2002, eight in 2008 and three in 2014.

This time, 10 candidates were in the fray from the seat, including Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mohd Amin Dar. But none of the other major parties fielded their candidates. NOTA received 1,358 votes in the seat.

He was an official spokesperson of the now-dissolved People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration. Formed in October 2020 to fight to restore the erstwhile state’s special status that was scrapped in 2019, the alliance broke in August this year after local political parties decided to contest the assembly poll in the union territory on their own.

Tarigami is also the name of the place in Kulgam where he was born in 1949.

The results for the Jammu and Kashmir polls were announced on Tuesday. Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (42 seats) and Bharatiya Janata Party (29 seats) emerged as the two biggest parties in the UT. The Congress won six seats and PDP just three. One seat each went to the Jammu & Kashmir People Conference, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and CPM. In addition, seven independents also made it to the House.