Srinagar: In a decisive electoral mandate, the deposits of nearly 90 percent of candidates contesting for the five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir were confiscated. According to Election Commission data, 89 out of 100 candidates failed to secure one-sixth of the votes polled in their respective constituencies, leading to the forfeiture of their deposits.
The voters in the Union Territory delivered a clear verdict in favor of the winners in all but one constituency. Notably, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, an independent candidate who emerged victorious in the Baramulla seat, defeated high-profile politicians such as former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference President Sajjad Ghani Lone. Rashid secured 45.70 percent of the votes, making Baramulla the only constituency where the winning candidate received less than 50 percent of the total votes.
Baramulla was also the only constituency where the third-placed candidate, Sajjad Ghani Lone, managed to save his deposit by securing 16.76 percent of the votes, just above the 16.34 percent threshold required.
In other constituencies, National Conference leader Agah Ruhullah Mehdi achieved the highest vote share with 52.85 percent. BJP’s Jugal Kishore, who won the Jammu seat for the third consecutive time, received 52.80 percent of the votes. Union Minister and BJP leader Jitendra Singh, who also secured a third consecutive victory in Udhampur, garnered 51.28 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, NC’s Mian Altaf Ahmed defeated former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat with 50.85 percent of the votes.
The elections were particularly disappointing for Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), whose three candidates all forfeited their deposits. None of the DPAP candidates managed to secure even four percent of the votes. Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, contesting from Udhampur, received 3.56 percent, Mohammad Salim Parre from Anantnag-Rajouri got 2.49 percent, and Aamir Bhat from Srinagar secured 2.24 percent. Among the seven women candidates in the fray, only PDP President Mehbooba Mufti succeeded in saving her deposit
