Counting, results scheduled for November 14
JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Nagrota and Budgam constituencies registered strong polling figures in Tuesday’s bypolls, with Nagrota touching 74.63% turnout and Budgam concluding at 49.92%, official data revealed.
As per voter statistics, Nagrota Assembly Constituency (AC-77) registered a final turnout of 74.63%, indicating robust participation from voters throughout the day.
In Nagrota assembly constituency, a voter turnout of more than 75 per cent was recorded in the bypoll, where voting was held on Tuesday amid tight security.
The constituency had registered 77.66 per cent polling in 2024 assembly elections.
According to the Election Commission data, Nagrota recorded 75.08 per cent polling on Tuesday.
Voting, which began at 7 am across 150 polling stations in the constituency in Jammu district, passed off peacefully, officials said. The polling concluded at 6 pm.
Counting of votes will take place on November 14.
The bypoll was necessitated after the death of BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana in October last year.
Long queues were seen at several polling stations in the constituency since morning.
BJP candidate Devyani Rana, daughter of former MLA Devender Singh Rana whose death necessitated the bypoll, visited various polling booths and expressed confidence in securing a strong mandate.
“I am hopeful of my victory. People of the constituency will bless me with a large number of votes, just as they blessed my father and former MLA Devender Singh Rana,” she told reporters at the Katal Batal polling station.
She urged voters to turn out to vote in large numbers.
Former Naib Sarpanch Girdari Lal said there was “enthusiasm among voters” and that polling was taking place peacefully.
“Polling was held in peaceful atmosphere and no untoward incidents was reported from anywhere. All arrangements were put in the place and people came out to vote in good numbers,” an official said.
The contest is largely triangular, involving the BJP, National Conference (NC) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP).
BJP’s Devyani Rana is seeking to capitalise on public sympathy and her MLA father’s goodwill after he died in October last year.
Rana is pitted against NC nominee and sitting District Development Council (DDC) member Shamim Begum, and JKNPP president Harsh Dev Singh, a former state education minister and three-time MLA from Ramnagar.
Meanwhile, nearly 50 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise in the bypoll in the Budgam assembly constituency, officials said.
The tentative poll percentage recorded at the end of the polling in Budgam was 49.92 per cent, officials added.
Polling began at 7 am amidst chilly conditions as the valley witnessed sub-zero night temperatures at most places, and ended at 6 pm.
The poll percentage in the bypoll was slightly lower than last year’s assembly polls of 52.27 per cent.
The Budgam assembly constituency has around 1.26 registered voters.
The polls are being seen as a litmus test for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s government and his party, the National Conference (NC). The bypoll was necessitated after Abdullah vacated the seat following his election from the family bastion of Ganderbal as well in last year’s assembly polls.
Budgam has been a bastion of the NC with its candidates securing victory from the constituency since 1962, barring once in 1972 when the Congress candidate won from the seat.
NC Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, won from the Budgam seat in the 2002, 2008 and 2014 assembly polls, before Abdullah emerged victorious from here in 2024.
There were 17 candidates in the fray as Aga Syed Mehmood of the ruling National Conference faces a stiff challenge from the PDP’s (People’s Democratic Party) Aga Muntazir.
Besides the two Shia candidates, other key candidates include the BJP’s Syed Mohsin, Awami Ittehad Party’s Nazir Ahmad Khan, Aam Aadmi Party’s Deeba Khan, and independent candidate Muntazir Mohiuddin. The counting of votes is scheduled for November 14.
