Jammu and Kashmir election results 2024 highlights: National Conference, BJP win two seats each

Engineer Rashid leads with a margin of over 2 lakh votes from the Baramulla seat, as of 5 p.m. 

The trend is replicating elsewhere too. Six Independent candidates in total are poised to win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with the latest trends showing jailed pro-Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh, Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh, and Ladakh’s Mohmad Haneefa in the lead. In the 2019 elections, four independent candidates made it to the Lok Sabha, while three independent candidates — two from Kerala and one from Assam — secured victory in the 2014 general elections.

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In Srinagar, NC’s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi leads by a margin of 1.82 lakh votes against PDP’s Waheed Ur Rehman Para. The party’s Mian Altaf Ahmad replicates trends in the Anantnag-Rajouri district, where PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has already conceded defeat.

BJP’s Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore lead by huge margins in the Udhampur and Jammu seats respectively.

In Baramulla, former CM and NC member Omar Abdullah conceded defeat earlier in the day. Abdul Rashid Sheikh, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has a lead of over 2 lakh votes. 

BJP’s Jitendra Singh leads with 4.83 lakh votes in the Udhampur seat, with INC’s Ch. Lal Singh trailing by 1.09 lakh votes. 

Scenes of celebration were seen outside the Kathua counting centres as counting progresses.

In Anantnag-Rajouri seat, National Conference’s Mian Altaf Ahmad is leading with a huge margin of over 2.5 lakh votes against PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti. 

Ms. Mufti, after accepting the result, congratulated Mr. Ahmad. “Respecting the verdict of the people I thank my PDP workers & leaders for their hard work & support despite all the odds. My deepest gratitude to the people who voted for me. Winning & losing is part of the game & wont deter us from our path (sic),” she wrote on X.

In Srinagar, NC’s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi is leading with a margin of 1.58 lakh votes. BJP has maintained its leads in Udhampur and Jammu seats.

Margins are widening in the Baramulla seat. Independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh, also called Engineer Rashid, is leading against NC’s Omar Adbullah by more than 1.2 lakh votes. The National Investigation Agency arrested Mr. Rashid just two days before the revocation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. He was later booked under several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

While the results are not announced yet, Mr. Abdullah congratulated Mr. Sheikh for the victory. “I don’t believe his victory will hasten his release from prison nor will the people of North Kashmir get the representation they have a right to but the voters have spoken and in a democracy that’s all that matters,” he wrote on X.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, BJP’s candidate from the Udhampur seat, reached the counting centre in Kathua as counting is underway. Dr. Singh is leading against INC’s Ch. Lal Singh by 80,000 votes, as of 1:40 p.m. 

BJP’s lead is maintained in neighbouring Jammu with Jugal Kishore speeding past INC’s Raman Bhalla. 

Photo Credit: ANI

The state BJP chief Jugal Kishore is widening the gap over INC’s Raman Bhalla. Mr. Kishore is a two-time MLA from Nagrota. He defeated Congress’s Madan Lal Sharma in 2014. 

Mr. Bhalla served as a member of the J&K Legislative Assembly from 2002 to 2015. 

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The NC, a member of the INDIA bloc, has put its best foot forward with Mr. Ahmad. 

Mr. Ahmad is a Gujjar cleric, hailing from a family of caretakers of a shrine in central Kashmir’s Kangan area, which has been a religious centre for the Gujjar community for centuries now. The shrine sees thousands of Gujjars from across Jammu and Kashmir visiting it on its annual ‘urs’. Mr. Larvi has a stronghold within his community and never lost the Kangan Assembly elections for the past two decades, reported Peerzada Ashiq.

Former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah are trailing in the Anantnag-Rajouri and Baramulla seats respectively. PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti is trailing by over 100,000 votes, with NC’s influential Gujjar leader Mian Altaf Ahmad maintaining a strong lead.

Mr. Abdullah trails by almost more than 50,000 votes in Baramulla, as of 11:30 a.m. 

Meanwhile, Baramulla Lok Sabha candidate Omar Abdullah says the National Conference’s performance will prove the exit poll predictions wrong. 

Independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh has maintained his lead in the Baramulla constituency, over NC’s Omar Abdullah and PDP’s Sajad Gani Lone, as of 10 a.m. 

Widely known as Engineer Rashid, the independent candidate upended the poll calculus of two political bigwigs, wrote The Hindu’s Peerzada Ashiq. In Baramulala, the credit for igniting a rally competition went to jailed Engineer Rashid, whose two sons have captured streets of Baramulla, in just two weeks, with bike rallies and main market-side speeches dominating the poll reporting, Mr. Ashiq added. 

Mr. Rashid was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019 and remains in Tihar Jail. All his rallies resonated with slogans of “Jail ka badla, vote say (Will revenge jailing Rashid, with vote.” Besides, the lyrical song, “ PDP banogay, na bhai na; NC banogay, na bhai na; Engineer banogay, ha bhai ha (Will you become NC, no; a PDP, no; Engineer Rashid, yes”.

Jammu and Kashmir’s National Conference and BJP are neck-to-neck, leading in two seats each, as of 9:35 a.m. The NC has overtaken the People’s Democratic Party in both the Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajouri seats. 

Independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh maintains his lead over NC’s Omar Abdullah by more than 10,000 votes.

Early trends show Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore from the Bharatiya Janata Party are leading from the Udhampur and Jammu seats respectively. In Jammu, incumbent Mr. Kishore is leading against INC’s Raman Bhalla. 

In the Baramulla seat, Independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh is leading against PC’s Sajan Gani Lone and NC’s Omar Abdullah, as of 9:05 a.m. 

National Conference’s Mian Altaf Ahmad maintains his lead in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat. In Srinagar, NC’s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi is leading against Apni Party candidate Mohammad Ashraf Mir.

What about the region, its people and their choices will drive the 2024 verdict? 

The Hindu’s Sobhana K. Nair spoke with Peerzada Ashiq to decode the relevance and ramifications.

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Understanding the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency that goes to polls on May 7

As of 8:35 a.m., Sajad Gani Lone from the People’s Conference is leading from Baramulla Lok Sabha seat against independent candidate Arun Kumar Raina. The National Conference candidate Mian Altaf leading from Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. 

Former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are trailing from Anantnag-Rajouri and Baramulla seats respectively.

The counting of votes has begun in the Union Territory. 

In Jammu, the counting will take place at the Polytechnic College and M.A.M. College in Jammu and Government Degree College Kathua for the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat. Multi-tier security and round-the-clock CCTV surveillance have been put in place.

Officials earlier said the security is heightened and section 144 in certain areas. Speaking on the preparation for Lok Sabha poll counting day, Jammu Deputy Commissioner Sachin Kumar told ANI, “All the preparations have been done...The training of the staff and randomization have also been done. The candidates of the political parties have been issued I-cards and sensitized. Section 144 has been imposed in the area of the counting and to maintain the sanctity of the model code of conduct so that there is no problem around 100 metres of the centre.”

Both JKNC and JKPDP fought for the remaining three seats, with no opposition from the National Democratic Alliance. In Srinagar, National Conference’s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi is competing with PDP’s Waheed Parra. In Baramulla, which recorded its highest voter turnout since 1984, former Chief Minister NC’s Omar Abdullah is contesting against PDP’s Fayaz Ahmad Mir, a former Rajya Sabha MP who represented Jammu and Kashmir from 2015 to 2021. 

In Anantnag–Rajouri, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti Sayed of the PDP is pitted against NC’s Mian Altaf Ahmad Larvi. The fight in the newly carved out Parliament seat resembled a “complex Shakespearian political drama” with complex voter demography, comprising Kashmiri speaking-voters, Gujjars, Bakerwals, and Paharis determining the outcome, The Hindu’s Peerzada Ashiq wrote earlier.

The India Today Axis Exit Poll predicts the National Conference is likely to bag the three seats, while the BJP is predicted to win its two contested seats.

Read more about Jammu and Kashmir’s electoral desires in this editorial.

The electoral tussle played out on multiple axes. Regional fights were seen in the Baramulla, Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajouri constituencies between the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC, a member of the INDIA bloc) and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In Jammu and Udhampur, the incumbent BJP battled Congress. 

In Jammu, incumbent Lok Sabha MP BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma fought against the working president of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress, Raman Bhalla. In the neighbouring Udhampur, BJP has fielded Jitendra Singh, a current Minister of State, against INC’s Chaudhary Lal Singh.