Srinagar- The poll results of three important Lok Sabha seats declared on Tuesday sprung a big surprise with the jailed leader Er Rashid turning tables around by emerging as a ‘Giant Killer’. Er Rashid defeated National Conference stalwart and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone with a huge margin of over two lakh votes.
On the other hand, NC big-wig Mian Alaf Ahmed defeated Mehbooba Mufti with a huge margin of 2.80 lakh votes on Anantnag-Rajouri LS seat. Though the former chief ministers faced a brutal defeat in the 18th Lok Sabha elections, two National Conference (NC) candidates on Tuesday recorded a thumping win while an independent candidate and a jailed leader from north Kashmir, Engineer Abdul Rasheed Sheikh turned the tables by emerging victorious.
From Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency, Aga Syed Ruhulla Mehdi emerged victorious by a huge margin of 1.80 lakh votes.
Aga Ruhullah has secured 356866 and defeated his rival from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a margin of 188416 votes, who bagged 168450 votes. Apni Party candidate, Muhammad Ashraf Mir however secured only 65954 votes.
However, the NC candidate from Anantnag-Rajouri seat, Mian Altaf Ahmad Larvi bagged 521836 votes and defeated his close rival and PDP chief, who is also a former chief minister of erstwhile J&K state, Mehbooba Mufti with a margin of 281794 votes.
Mehbooba secured only 240,042 votes, followed by Apni Party’s Zafar Iqbal Khan Manhas, who bagged 142195 votes only.
The Baramulla Parliamentary Constituency where the close contest was expected between former chief minister Omar Abdullah and former minister and Peoples Conference (PC) leader Sajad Gani Lone however witnessed a different scene as the independent candidate and a jailed leader Er Rasheed emerged victorious from the seat.
Er Rasheed is a former two-time MLA from Langate in North Kashmir. He has been in Tihar Jail for five years facing terror funding charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He leads the Awami Ittehad Party, but he chose to contest as an independent candidate. He bagged 472481 votes and defeated his close rival Omar Abdullah by a margin of 204142 votes, who secured a total of 268339 votes while Sajad Lone got only 173239 votes. The credit for Er Rasheed’s victory is being attributed to the “vigorous and emotional election campaign” run by his two sons Abrar Rasheed and Asrar Rasheed across the North Kashmir LS seat. The siblings emerged as crowd pullers and attracted a large number of youth to their rallies where they sought support and votes for their jailed father, which ultimately bore the fruit.
Meanwhile, the winning candidates thanked the voters for putting trust in them by casting their ballots in their favour.
Mian Altaf said that he was very optimistic about his victory. “During my election campaign, I saw the interest of people in me and was sure about my win,” Mian Altaf said.
Altaf vowed to fulfil all his promises made during the election campaign. “This victory was by a very high margin. Anantnag-Rajouri was a prestigious seat in Lok Sabha elections. All eyes were on this seat,” he said. Altaf thanked the people of his constituency for this opportunity.
NC’s winning candidate from Srinagar Parliamentary constituency, Aga Ruhullah, said that he will strongly raise the issue of whatever was snatched from the people of J&K and also its restoration as well. “My stand cannot change in a night. I will stick to my ideology for which people have voted in my favour,” he said.
On Omar Abdullah’s defeat, Ruhullah said that the verdict thrown by the people had to be accepted. “I will also raise the issue of youngsters, who are behind the bars and will come up to the expectations of the people,” he added.
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