Political Giants Stumble: Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti Face Defeat
The day belonged to giant slayers as Mian Altaf and Engineer Rashid logged wins over former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah in the Lok Sabha elections with telling margins.
Jailed former legislator Engineer Sheikh Rashid, who was contesting from Baramulla defeated not only one, but two powerful leaders in the form of Omar Abdullah and Sajad Lone by a margin of over two lakh votes.
National Conference vice-president, Omar, conceded defeat to Rashid on Tuesday afternoon even as counting for the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency underway.
Rashid, a former MLA from Langate, is lodged in Tihar Jail facing an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case. His campaign was spearheaded by his son, Abrar Rashid, a university student.
Trailing by 1.34 lakh votes, Omar Abdullah took to social media, writing on ‘X’: “I think it’s time to accept the inevitable. Congratulations to Engineer Rashid on his victory in North Kashmir.”
Later however, Omar said the win was unlikely to secure Rashid’s release.
“I don’t believe his victory will hasten his release from prison nor will the people of North Kashmir get the representation they have a right to but the voters have spoken and in a democracy that’s all that matters,” he said.
Since the counting began at the Baramulla Degree College in the morning, Rashid maintained a steady lead that he consolidated with each round of counting despite the exit polls having predicted a win for Omar.
Rashid polled 4,72,481 votes, 2,04,142 more than Omar’s 2,68,339 votes. People’s Conference chairperson Sajad Lone secured the third spot with 1,73,239 votes.
Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, meanwhile, lost on home turf in Anantnag-Rajouri by 2,79,270 votes to NC candidate Mian Altaf, who polled 5,17,489 votes.
Conceding defeat, Mehbooba wrote on ‘X’: “Respecting the verdict of the people, I thank PDP workers and leaders for their hard work and support despite all the odds. My deepest gratitude to the people who voted for me. Winning and losing is part of the game and won’t deter us from our path. Congratulations to Mian sahab on his victory.”
Reacting to the results, Dr Sheikh Showkat, a political analyst and former Kashmir and Central University law department head, wrote on X, “Voters of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh have overwhelmingly rejected the stance of BJP+proxies and penalised Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba for their collaboration.”
This is the first Lok Sabha election in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. The elections to the five seats in Jammu and Kashmir were held in five phases.
The election marked the departure from usual boycotts in Kashmir as voters came out in large numbers, recording a near four-decade high in turnout. In 2019, the BJP had won two seats in Jammu and the one in Ladakh, NC three seats in Kashmir.
The results are expected to set the tone for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, which could be held before September.
