Two candidates supported by the National Conference (NC) and the Apni Party won the District Development Council (DDC) byelections in north Kashmir’s Kupwara and Bandipora on Thursday.
Amina Majeed, who contested as an independent candidate with ‘Truck’ symbol, bagged 3,259 votes and won the Drugmulla constituency in Kupwara by 39 votes.
Shabnam Rehman, who was fielded by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2020 but joined Sajad Lone’s Peoples Conference (PC) this year, got 3,220 votes and stood second. Kupwara, where the NC and PC are two main players, saw 32.73 % voting.
In Bandipora’s Hajin-A, independent candidate Naza won by securing 2,706 votes. Naza was being supported by the Apni Party. PC’s Atiqa Begum stood second and secured 2,283 votes. Hajin recorded 53.33 % voting.
The two DDC constituencies witnessed re-polling after the State Election Commission (SEC) declared the previous voting process invalid because two candidates, who originally hailed from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and married to locals, were contesting. It said the two candidates could not “prove their Indian citizenship”.
The results once again indicated that the Peoples Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration, an amalgam of political parties fighting for pre-August 5 2019 position of Jammu and Kashmir, did not go by the electoral pact of 2020, when they fielded joint candidates.
The SEC did not allow fresh nominations to be filed this time. Many candidates had to contest under the party symbols according to the 2020 nominations and could not contest as per the current party affiliations.
Meanwhile, State Election Commissioner K.K. Sharma has appreciated the smooth conduct of the counting of votes.
“Despite the cold conditions prevalent in the Valley, the officials associated with the counting and the related things have extraordinarily carried out their duties for declaration of results to the utmost satisfaction of every political party and people alike,” Mr. Sharma said.
