SRINAGAR — In a decisive electoral mandate, the deposits of nearly 90 per cent of candidates contesting for the five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir were confiscated. According to Election Commission data, 89 out of 100 candidates failed to secure one-sixth of the votes polled in their respective constituencies, leading to the forfeiture of their deposits.
The voters in the Union Territory, as per the news agency KNO, delivered a clear verdict in favour of the winners in all but one constituency.
Notably, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, an independent candidate who emerged victorious in the Baramulla seat, defeated high-profile politicians such as former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and People's Conference President Sajjad Gani Lone. Rashid secured 45.70 per cent of the votes, making Baramulla the only constituency where the winning candidate received less than 50 per cent of the total votes.
Baramulla was also the only constituency where the third-placed candidate, Sajjad Gani Lone, managed to save his deposit by securing 16.76 per cent of the votes, just above the 16.34 per cent threshold required.
In other constituencies, National Conference leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi achieved the highest vote share with 52.85 per cent.
BJP's Jugal Kishore, who won the Jammu seat for the third consecutive time, received 52.80 per cent of the votes. Union Minister and BJP leader Jitendra Singh, who also secured a third consecutive victory in Udhampur, garnered 51.28 per cent of the votes.
Meanwhile, NC's Mian Altaf Ahmed defeated former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat with 50.85 per cent of the votes.
The elections were particularly disappointing for Ghulam Nabi Azad's Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), whose all three candidates forfeited their deposits. None of the DPAP candidates managed to secure even four per cent of the votes.
Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, contesting from Udhampur, received 3.56 per cent, Mohammad Salim Parre from Anantnag-Rajouri got 2.49 per cent, and Aamir Bhat from Srinagar secured 2.24 per cent.
Among the seven women candidates in the fray, only PDP President Mehbooba Mufti succeeded in saving her deposit.
This post first appeared on The Kashmir Pulse
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