BJP-backed candidates on all three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir Valley are continuing to trail, but the party’s contenders on two seats of the Jammu division — Union minister Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore have maintained a lead over their Congress rivals.
Independent candidate and National Conference (NC) rebel Mohammad Haneefa, on the lone seat of Ladakh, has secured 31,012 votes against the runner up Tsering Namgyal of the Congress who has polled 13,057 votes so far. The BJP is likely to lose the seat as its candidate Tashi Gyalson is at number three with 11,542 votes.
Counting of votes was continuing in Ladakh.
Former chief ministers — Omar Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) — are trailing in Baramulla and Anantnag where BJP’s “Pahari card” has failed to work. Candidates of Apni Party, Peoples Conference and DPAP of Ghulam Nabi Azad, for whom the BJP leadership vigorously campaigned, are also trailing.
Among all five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, Mian Altaf (NC) has gained the highest lead of 1,32,070 votes on the Anantnag seat where the BJP government had granted Scheduled Tribe status to the Pahari community shortly before the elections were announced.
Engineer Rashid (Ind), who is contesting the election from the Tihar Jail where he is lodged in connection with cases related to terror funding, has sprung a surprise in Baramulla by so far leading over Omar Abdullah (NC) and Sajad Lone of Peoples Conference who was backed by BJP.
According to the figures released by the ECI, Engineer Rashid is leading with a margin of 53724 votes over Omar Abdullah in Baramulla.
Aga Sayeed Rahulla (NC) is leading with a margin of 72233 votes over PDP’s Wahid Ur Rehman Parra in Srinagar.
Mian Altaf (NC) is leading with 132070 votes against Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) in Anantnag.
Dr. Jitendra Singh (BJP) is leading with 33014 votes over Chaudhary Lal Singh (Congress) in Udhampur. Jugal Kishore (BJP) is leading with 58932 votes over Raman Bhalla (Congress) in Jammu.