‘Lal Singh, Zulfiqar Ali, Sajad Kitchloo, Tara Chand, Raman Bhalla among political stalwarts taste defeat’
Imran Shah
Jammu, (TDD): While BJP literally saffronised the Jammu region by making a clean sweep, National Conference candidate from Surinder Choudhary will definitely give the party some sleepless nights for sure as he emerged the ‘Giant Killer” by defeating J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina in Noshwera Assembly constituency.
Loss of Raina in Nowshera at a time when BJP was sweeping inching close to 30 seats in the region is not less than a shocker. Choudhary defeated Raina by a margin of 7819 votes as he got 35069 votes.
Similarly, in Budhal seat, Javaid Iqbal defeated the BJP’s Choudhary Zulfikar Ali by a margin of 18908 votes. In Basohli, BJP candidate Darshan Kumar defeated his rival Choudhary Lal Singh by a huge margin of over 16000 votes. In Bani (Kathua0, Dr Rameshwar Singh an independent candidate bagged the seat by defeating BJP’s Jeewan Lal by a margin of 2048 votes.
BJP candidate from Kishtwar constituency Shagun Parihar won from Kishtwar constituency with a narrow margin of 521 votes. The 29-year-old Shagun defeated the National Conference candidate and former Minister Sajad Ahmed Kichloo even as the margin was very thin. Notably, Shagun Parihar comes from the family of a BJP leader, killed by Hizbul Mujahideen in 2018. Her father Ajit Parihar and uncle Anil were killed by terrorists near their home before the panchayat elections.
Satish Sharma, son of late Congress leader and Member Parliament Mandal Lal, won from Chaamb constituency with a margin of 6929. Satish got 33985 while his nearest rival was from Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rajeev Sharma who got 27056 votes. Congress party’s working president and former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand stood third the electoral battle with 16449 votes. Satish contested elections after Congress party denied him mandate.
In Inderwal, independent candidate Payare Lal Sharma defeated veteran leader and former minister Gulam Mohammad Saroori by a narrow margin of 643 votes. Sharma polled 14,195 votes, while Saroori, who was also contesting as an independent candidate, received 13,552 votes. Congress candidate got 12533 votes and finished at third spot.
In the Surankote assembly segment, independent candidate and National Conference rebel Choudhary Mohammad Akram defeated Congress candidate Mohammad Shahnawaz with a margin of 8,851 votes. Akram polled 34,201 votes. Retired justice Muzaffar Iqbal Khan won for from Thanamandi, he polled 32645 votes while BJP candidate Mohd Iqbal Malik gets 26466 votes. Congress candidate and former Minister Mohd Shabir Khan finished fourth after PDP with just 7508 votes. Congress party’s Tara Chand and Raman Bhalla also failed to win seats and lost by huge margins–(TDD)
