BJP’s Devender Rana Clinches Largest Victory Margin in J&K Assembly Elections, While PDP’s Rafiq Ahmad Naik Secures Narrowest Win
SRINAGAR, Oct 8: In the recently concluded Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, results announced on Tuesday revealed significant disparities in the victory margins among candidates. Notably, BJP candidate Devender Rana emerged victorious in the Nagrota constituency with the highest margin, while Rafiq Ahmad Naik of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) recorded the lowest margin of victory.
Devender Rana, who previously secured a seat in the 2014 assembly elections as a member of the National Conference (NC), successfully retained his position in the Nagrota segment on a BJP ticket, winning by an impressive margin of 30,472 votes. His closest competitor, Joginder Singh from the NC, garnered only 17,641 votes.
Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary, also achieved a significant win, securing his seat with a margin of 29,728 votes. This was closely followed by Surjit Singh Slathia, a former NC member who joined the BJP, winning the Samba seat with a margin of 29,481 votes. The BJP saw five additional candidates triumph by margins exceeding 20,000 votes.
The NC emerged as the largest party in the 90-member J&K assembly, capturing a total of 42 seats. However, only two of its candidates, Irshad Rasool Kar and Aijaz Ahmad Jan, won by margins greater than 20,000 votes, specifically 20,356 and 20,879 votes, respectively, in the Sopore and Poonch-Haveli constituencies.
In stark contrast, PDP candidate Rafiq Ahmad Naik managed to secure the Tral assembly seat in a tightly contested race, winning by a mere 460 votes. Naik polled a total of 10,710 votes, narrowly outpacing Congress candidate Surinder Singh Channi, who received 10,250 votes, and an NC rebel who obtained 9,778 votes. AIP’s Harbaksh Singh trailed with 8,557 votes.
In Kishtwar, BJP candidate Shagun Parihar won with a slightly more comfortable margin of 521 votes against NC’s Sajad Kitchloo. Additionally, several candidates won their constituencies with margins of fewer than 1,000 votes, highlighting the competitive nature of this election.
Sajad Gani Lone, president of the People’s Conference, faced a similar fate, barely retaining his family stronghold in Handwara with a margin of only 662 votes. Other closely contested races included NC’s Javaid Riyaz, who defeated People’s Conference candidate Imran Ansari by a narrow margin of 603 votes, and Independent candidate Pyare Lal Sharma, who won against former minister G. M. Saroori by a margin of 643 votes in a quadrangular contest.
These results reflect a complex political landscape in Jammu and Kashmir, with varying levels of voter support for different parties and candidates across the region.
