SRINAGAR PDP president Mehbooba Mufti conceded defeat on Thursday in the election to the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat after trailing in the third place, behind the National Conference’s (NC) Hasnain Masoodi, who has taken a lead of 7,600 votes over Jammu and Kashmir Congress president G A Mir.
Masoodi, a retired high court judge, was leading Mir by 7,600 votes with 18,000 votes to be counted, election officials said.
Mehbooba, who had won the Anantnag seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, was at the third spot, 11,700 votes behind Masoodi.
“I’ve been fortunate to get the love & affection of my people. They have every right to express their anger for my failings. Accept their verdict with humility. Congratulations to winning candidates from NC. I’m grateful to my party workers & colleagues,” the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president said in a tweet.
She also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “historic” mandate in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Congratulations to Narendra Modi ji for a historic mandate. Today surely belongs to BJP and it’s allies. Time for Congress to get an Amit Shah,” she said.
This is only the second electoral defeat for Mehbooba since she joined politics in 1996. She had lost the 1999 Lok Sabha polls from Srinagar to the NC’s Omar Abdullah.
Opposition, media couldn’t see ‘Modi wave’: Jitendra
Union minister Jitendra Singh, who was set to win the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, said on Thursday the media and the Opposition could not see the “Modi wave”, but the people of the country proved it.
Singh was leading by over 3,48,345 votes against Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh in the Jammu and Kashmir seat.
“They (media and Opposition) were saying the Modi wave was only in 2014. They said there was no Modi wave (this time), but people proved it,” Singh told reporters here.
“It is a victory of the people of this region. In spite of the analysis being done by our media friends, my voters has tried to be wiser. I bow before my people for voting for me,” he said.
The BJP leader said people voted for him due to the “major development work” carried in the constituency, saying neither the media nor the Opposition could see it, but the people did.
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