In J&K, 2 ex-CMs lose, jailed leader Rashid wins

Jammu, June 4

In an interesting turn of events on Tuesday, two former Chief Ministers, including National Conference’s Omar Abdullah and PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, lost from the Baramulla and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

Omar was defeated by Engineer Abdul Rashid, a J&K leader who is in a jail on the charges of alleged terror financing. He contested as an Independent candidate. On the other hand, NC nominee Mian Altaf triumphed over Mehbooba. Another NC candidate Aga Syed Ruhullah won from the Srinagar seat.

In Ladakh, an NC rebel and Independent candidate, Haji Hanifa Jan, beat Congress’ Tsering Namgyal and BJP’s Tashi Gyalson despite their intense campaigning in Leh and Kargil districts. Hanifa contested on the promise of raising the issue of implementation of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in the UT.

In Jammu, both BJP candidates — Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma — scored hat-tricks, Singh from Udhampur and Sharma from Jammu.

These were the first Lok Sabha elections to be held since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of J&K. There are five seats in J&K and one in Ladakh.