Mian Altaf dominates with 50.85% vote share
7 Rajouri and Poonch constituencies hit PDP
Anantnag, Jun 05: In the Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary Constituency, 20 candidates contested the election, which saw a voter turnout of 55.40 percent from a total of 18.36 lakh voters. Significantly, 18 out of these 20 candidates, including those from various parties and independents, lost their security deposit as they could not secure one-sixth of the votes polled.
The total number of votes polled in the Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary constituency, as per form 20, was 10,26,420 votes. This includes the number of votes rejected, None of the Above (NOTA), three migrant camps, and postal ballots.
Nine candidates received fewer votes than the NOTA option, which garnered 6,223 votes. These nine candidates were either independents or from lesser-known political parties contesting the elections.
The major vote share went to Mian Altaf Ahmad, who secured 50.85% of the vote. Mehbooba Mufti, once a prominent political figure expected to give a tough fight to the NC senior leader and INDIA Bloc candidate, could only secure 23.39% of the vote. Zafar Iqbal of Apni Party, who had BJP support, obtained 13.86%.
Among the candidates who lost their security deposit were Zafar Iqbal Manhas of J&K Apni Party (JKAP) and Mohammad Saleem Paray of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP).
Manhas secured 1,42,195 votes, while Paray of DPAP managed to get just 25,561. Both these candidates had extensive campaigns by Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad across the Pir Panjal region.
The duo, among others, appealed to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to defer the date of polls in the Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary constituency. Subsequently, the ECI postponed it from May 7th to May 25th.
The delimitation of the said seat and the addition of Rajouri and Poonch have significantly impacted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In the seven constituencies of Poonch and Rajouri, Manhas of Apni Party secured more votes than Mehbooba.
In these seven constituencies, Mian received 3,00,016 votes, Manhas got 92,521 votes, and Mehbooba secured just 70,470 votes.
