Jammu: Nineteen constituencies saw an extremely close contest in the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls in Jammu and Kashmir, with the margin of victory being less than 100 votes.
Of the candidates who won in these constituencies, eight are Independents, three of the BJP, two each of the National Conference and the Congress, and one each of the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP), Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) and the Peoples Conference (PC), as per data of the state election authority.
Avtar Singh, a Sikh who contested as Independent in Dadsara constituency of Pulwama district, won the DDC polls by just three votes.
Of these candidates, eight are Independents, followed by three from the BJP, two each from the National Conference and the Congress and one each from the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP), People Democratic Front (PDF) and the Peoples Conference (PC), as per data of the state election authority.
Avtar Singh, a Sikh who contested as Independent candidate in the Dadsara constituency of Pulwama district, won the DDC polls by just three votes.
Singh polled 246 votes while rival NC candidate Ali Mohmmad Bhat polled 243 votes.
Khalid Bibi won Larnoo segment of Anantnag district on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket with a thin margin of seven votes as she polled 4,580 votes against his rival Independent candidate Sajida Begam, who polled 4,573 votes.
: Wednesday, December 23, 2020, 6:42 PM IST
J&K DDC Polls: Final results declared; PAGD bags 110 seats, BJP turns out single-largest party with 75
KK Sharma, the J&K Election Commissioner, on this day congratulated all the candidates who won the DDC elections.
Voters stand in a queue to cast their votes for the 8th phase of the DDC elections, at Bandipora in North Kashmir on Saturday.
ANI
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Election Commissioner KK Sharma on Wednesday declared the final results for the maiden District Development Council (DDC) elections in the union territory.
According to the final tally, the People s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which among others includes regional heavyweights National Conference and PDP, swept the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls by winning 110 seats, while the BJP emerged as the single largest party by getting 75 seats and the maximum vote share in Jammu and Kashmir.
Choudhary was defeated by Taranjit Singh, an independent who polled 12969 votes against 12958 votes of Choudhary.
Choudhary, who was among prominent candidates fighting the first-ever DDC election, was a cabinet minister for Irrigation and Flood Control Department in the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government.
Choudhary represented the Suchetgarh assembly constituency in the last assembly.
Another former BJP lawmaker and minister Shakti Raj Parihar also lost one of the DDC segments in Doda district.
Bagging 49 Seats Out of 280, Independents Emerge as Key Player in J&K DDC Polls
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Independent candidates have emerged as big winners in Jammu and Kashmir’s maiden District Development Council polls, with 49 of them having been declared elected so far from 280 seats, putting them ahead of parties like the Congress and the PDP. Among the big Independent wins is Taranjit Singh defeating BJP’s two-time MLA and former minister Sham Lal Choudhary in Suchetgarh in Jammu region by a slender margin of 11 votes.
Though the BJP maintained its supremacy by emerging as the single largest party with 74 seats and is leading in another seat, the defeat of its stalwarts Choudhary and another former minister Shakti Raj Parihar, who lost from two constituencies in Doda district, has come as a shock for it. Choudhary lost to Singh by a razor-thin margin. Singh polled 12,969 votes against Choudhary’s 12958, according to the results declared by the J&K Election Commissioner in the ea