NC has won 42 seats while Congress won six. While BJP won 29 seats, Mehbooba Mufti-led People's Democratic Party (PDP) won only three seats.
Published Oct 08, 2024 | 4:26 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 08, 2024 | 5:07 PM
Omar Abdullah. (Facebook)
The National Conference (NC) and Congress alliance crossed the halfway mark in Jammu and Kashmir, according to data released by the Election Commission on Tuesday, 8 October, after the counting of votes from the Assembly elections in the Union Territory (UT) was completed.
NC has won 42 seats while Congress won six. While the BJP won 29 seats, the Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won only three seats.
The Assembly elections for 90 constituencies in the state were held in three phases on 18 September, 25 September, and 1 October after a gap of 10 years.
The state also witnessed Assembly elections for the first time since the abolition of Article 370 and the division of the erstwhile state into the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
NC Vice President Omar Abdullah won the Budgam and Ganderbal Assembly seats.
In Budgam, Abdulla defeated the PDP Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi by a margin of more than 18,000 votes. He secured 36,010 votes in Budgam, while Mehdi got 17,525 votes.
In his family bastion Ganderbal, he won by a margin of 10,574 against PDP’s Bashir Ahmed Mir.
The NC vice president had contested the 2014 elections also from two seats, Sonwar in Srinagar and Beerwah in Budgam district. He had won the Beerwah seat. Abdullah had lost the 2024 Parliamentary polls from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in north Kashmir.
He was defeated by independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid who was then lodged in the Tihar Jail under terror-funding charges. Rashid is currently out on bail.
NC leader Farooq Abdullah declared that Omar Abdullah would become the chief minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“After 10 years, the people have given their mandate to us. We pray to Allah that we meet their expectations. It will not be ‘police raj’ here but public here. We will try to release the innocent from jail. Media will be free. We have to develop trust between Hindus and Muslims,” Farooq Abdullah said, reported NDTV.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) registered its first victory in Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir when its candidate Mehraj Malik defeated his nearest rival from the BJP in Doda constituency by a margin of over 4,538 votes.
Malik, a District Development Council (DDC) member, polled 23,228 votes against BJP’s Gajay Singh Rana’s 18,690 votes.
Following the results, Mufti said the PDP would function as a constructive Opposition. “The people of Jammu and Kashmir have given their verdict, so the people in Delhi [the Union government] should not meddle with the affairs of the state,” she said.
Meanwhile, her daughter Iltija Mufti conceded defeat in the Assembly elections from the Srigufwara – Bijbehara constituency.
She was defeated by NC’s Bashir Ahmad Shah Veeri by a margin of 9,770 votes.
“I accept the verdict of the people. The love & affection I received from everyone in Bijbehara will always stay with me. Gratitude to my PDP workers who worked so hard throughout this campaign,” she said on X following the defeat.
I accept the verdict of the people. The love & affection I received from everyone in Bijbehara will always stay with me. Gratitude to my PDP workers who worked so hard throughout this campaign 💚
— Iltija Mufti (@IltijaMufti_) October 8, 2024
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
