Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 23: Over 270 independent candidates lost Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and only three of them could secure their seats.
As many as 274 independents were among 931 candidates who contested the Assembly polls. Of these only three could win, according to Election Commission.
Those who won include Abdul Rashid Sheikh from Langate, Pawan Kumar Gupta (Udhampur) and Syed Mohammad Baqir Rizvi from Zanskar constituency. Sheikh won by 2,505 votes by defeating PDP’s Ghulam Nabi Ganai, who got support from 15,667 electorates, it said.
Whereas, Gupta secured 36,226 votes, 14,650 more than PDP’s Balwant Singh Mankotia in Udhampur constituency. In Zanskar, Rizvi won by a margin of 566 votes. He defeated Congress Ghulam Raza, who got 6,197 votes, the EC said.
Independent candidates got a total of 3,29,881 votes or 6.8 per cent of the total votes polled in the State.
PDP emerged as the single largest party in the State by winning 28 seats followed by BJP which won 25 constituencies in 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
While ruling NC got 15, Congress 12, Jammu and Kashmir People Conference secured win on two seats, Jammu and Kashmir People Democratic Front (Secular) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) got one seat each in the counting of votes held today.
In 2008 Assembly polls, four out of 481 independent candidates had won.
The elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in five phases–November 25, December 2, 9, 14 and 20.
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