BJP retains Nagrota, PDP wrests Budgam from ruling NC in J&K bypolls
Srinagar/Jammu: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wrested Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam Assembly seat from the ruling National Conference (NC), while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained Nagrota Assembly seat in the results declared on Friday.
Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi of the PDP defeated his nearest rival, Aga Syed Mehmood of the NC, with a margin of over 4,100 votes in a closely fought election in Budgam.
The seat fell vacant after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah resigned from it. He had won from both Budgam and Ganderbal in the 2024 Assembly polls and later chose to retain Ganderbal.
The distancing of NC MP, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, from the party campaign cost the NC many votes in the Budgam bypoll.
Ruhullah Mehdi, who belongs to Budgam, had refused to campaign for the NC due to differences with party leadership.
Ironically, jubilant PDP workers, who broke into celebrations immediately after their candidate was declared the winner, shouted slogans in favour of Ruhullah Mehdi as well.
In Nagrota, BJP’s Devyani Rana on Friday won the bypoll, defeating her nearest rival, Harsh Dev Singh of Panthers Party by a margin of more than 21,000 votes.
NC candidate, Shamim Begum, finished a distant third with just over 10,000 votes polled in her favour.
Celebrations started in the BJP camp in Jammu immediately after the victory of the party candidate was announced in Nagrota.
Devyani Rana is the daughter of late Devender Singh Rana, who won the Nagrota assembly seat in the 2024 Assembly elections and whose death in October last year necessitated the bypoll.
In the 90-member J&K Assembly, the BJP has 29 seats against the NC’s 41 seats, while the PDP has improved its tally to 4.