Srinagar, Oct 9, KNT: The Jammu and Kashmir assembly election results have been declared, revealing a mix of convincing victories and razor-thin margins. The National Conference (NC) emerged as the single largest party with 42 seats in the 90-member assembly.
BJP’s Devender Rana secured Nagrota with the highest margin of 30,472 votes, defeating NC’s Joginder Singh. Rana, who had previously won the 2014 assembly elections on the NC ticket, retained the Nagrota seat on the BJP ticket. AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir won with a substantial margin of 29,728 votes, closely followed by BJP’s Surjit Singh Slathia, who triumphed in Samba with a margin of 29,481 votes.
In contrast, PDP’s Rafiq Ahmad Naik scraped through in Tral with a mere 460 votes, edging out Congress candidate Surinder Singh Channi. Naik polled 10,710 votes, while Channi secured 10,250 votes. NC rebel candidate garnered 9,778 votes, and AIP’s Harbaksh Singh received 8,557 votes.
Other notable performances included NC’s Irshad Rasool Kar, who won Sopore with a margin of 20,356 votes, and Aijaz Ahmad Jan, who secured Poonch-Haveli for the NC with a margin of 20,879 votes. BJP’s Kishtwar candidate Shagun Parihar won with a margin of 521 votes, defeating NC candidate Sajad Kitchloo.
The elections as per the news agency Kashmir News Trust also saw several nail-biting contests, including NC’s Javaid Riyaz’s 603-vote victory over People’s Conference candidate Imran Ansari. Independent Pyare Lal Sharma ousted former minister G M Saroori by 643 votes in a quadrangular contest for Inderwal assembly segment. Sharma polled 14,195 votes, followed by Saroori (13,552), Congress’ Mohammad Zafarullah (12,533), and BJP’s Tariq Hussain Keen (9,550).
People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone retained Handwara seat with a narrow margin of 662 votes. Five other candidates, including Sajad Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, won with margins of less than 1,000 votes. [KNT]
