J-K poll results: Two ex-deputy CMs, BJP chief Ravinder Raina among key losers
NC leaders Abdul Rahim Rather, Ali Mohammad Sagar elected for record 7th time
Srinagar: Many key candidates and bigwigs, including two former deputy chief ministers and ex-ministers, lost the maiden assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, as the National Conference (NC) emerged the single largest party with 42 seats.
Former deputy chief minister MuzaffarHussainBaig was among the 24 candidates in Baramulla constituency whose deposits were forfeited.
The seat was won by his nephew JavidHussainBaig who polled 22,523 votes, while MuzaffarBaig, a former MP as well, stood at a distant third by securing just 5,872 votes.
Another former deputy chief minister Tara Chand, Congress candidate from Chhamb seat in Jammu region, lost to independent candidate Satish Sharma. Chand stood at the third place.
Among the prominent names who lost the polls are former minister and ex-JKPCC president VaqarRasool, J-K BJP president RavinderRaina, former minister and JKPCC working president Raman Bhalla, and former ministers Abdul RehmanVeeri, AltafBukhari, UsmanMajid, ChowdharyLal Singh, ManoharLal Sharma, ChowdharyZulfiqar Ali, Harsh Dev Singh, GhulamNabi Lone, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, and AsieaNaqash.
Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, SajadKichloo, NasirAslamWani, Imran Ansari, Mula Ram, Zahoor Mir, Mohammad Ashraf Mir, TajMohiuddin, Syed BasharatBukhari, and Abdul GaffarSofi are the other former ministers who lost the election.
PDP leaders and former MLAs Mohammad SartajMadni and Mehboob Beg, Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti, Hurriyat leader’s son Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi, and AwamiIttehad Party candidate from Tral, Harbaksh Singh were the other key candidates who could not win the polls.
Separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajad Lone won from Handwara, but lost from Kupwara.
BJP candidates Aijaz Ahmad from LalChowk and Faqeer Mohammad Khan from Gurez (ST) — for whom Prime Minister NarendraModi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh campaigned, respectively, also lost the polls.
Congress leader and former MLA Abdul Rashid Dar, for whom Rahul Gandhi campaigned, also lost from Sopore.
Meanwhile, National Conference (NC) leaders Abdul Rahim Rather and Ali Mohammad Sagar were elected for a record seventh term.
Rather, the former finance minister of the erstwhile state of J-K, has represented central Kashmir’s Chrar-i-Shareef for six terms before this since 1977.
He was elected to the assembly in 1983, 1987, 1996, 2002 and 2008 elections. In 2014 polls, he lost to PDP’s GhulamNabi Lone.
However, Rather defeated Lone by a margin of over 11,000 votes on Tuesday.
Sagar, the general secretary of the NC, also won the assembly election for the seventh time.
He was first elected to the assembly from Batamaloo seat here in 1983. He regained the seat in 1987. Later, Sagar shifted to Khanyar and won the polls from there in 1996. Since then, he has never lost an election from the seat. In fact, the NC general secretary has never lost an assembly election.
Sagar won the Khanyar seat defeating fromer deputy Mayor of Srinagar Sheikh Imran who contested the polls as an independent candidate by a margin of 9,912 votes.
Another politician who could have achieved the feat was Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen who has represented Khansahib seat, in Budgam district, six times.
However, he could not win the seventh time and was defeated by NC’s Saifud din Bhat by a margin of 11,614 votes.
NC’s Mubarak Gul is another politician who has won his seat several times. Gul won the election from Eidgah here for the sixth time, while CPI(M)’s M Y Tarigami wrested the Kulgam constituency for the fifth time.
