result was rigged at the instance of Rajiv Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah, leaders of the ruling coalition parties. Atal Behari Vajpayee joined Bhim Singh on hunger strike in front of the Election Commission offices in protest to the vote rigging. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court ruled in favour of Bhim Singh, however when Justice K.K. Gupta delivered the judgement four years later on 15 October 1992, the relevant session of parliament stood dissolved already. On the night of rigging in June 1988, despite the dishonourable intentions of his opposition Congress party, Bhim Singh had helped to pacify an aggressive set of youth that had come in support of the Panthers Party to stop Dr. Bhalla from escaping to Delhi on a helicopter. Thousands of youth had gathered at the count venue which was at the Kathua Government Degree College. They demanded that the returning officer confirm the result there and then as opposed referring it to New Delhi. Bhim Singh later wrote in his book the Murder of Democracy in Jammu and Kashmir, that he had intervened to pacify the crowd at the time despite it costing him the result, as an outbreak of violence at the venue could have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians by the heavily armed police that were present due to an escalation in the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. In May 2019, Singh stood as a candidate for Indian parliament from Jammu, and was the poorest and oldest candidate in the constituency. At the time of the election he was over 78 years old and had just INR 30,000 ($420) cash, INR 16,000 ($224) bank deposit, and land valued at INR 38,000 ($533). He finished fourth out of 24 candidates, with 4,016 votes (0.27%). Jammu and Kashmir state assembly 2002–2008 In the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly elections in 2002, the party which he headed, the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, won four seats in the state government, enabling them to be part of the ruling coalition, with Bhim Singh's nephew Harsh Dev Singh serving as education minister. In its stronghold the Udhampur district, Bhim Singh's party had won all 3 seats. In 2007 he withdrew support to the Congress Party lead coalition, citing differences with the Peoples Democratic Party another member of the coalition. The state government fell soon after when the PDP itself withdrew their support from the