Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, June 25: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today won crucial by-poll from Anantnag Assembly segment by defeating her rival, Hilal Shah of Congress, with a sizeable margin of 12,085 votes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Mehbooba on her phenomenal victory.
Of 28,500 polled votes, the Chief Minister secured 17,701 votes, while Shah polled 5,616. National Conference (NC) candidate, Iftikhar Misger got 2,811 votes. Eight candidates including Mehbooba were in the fray.
Mehbooba’s win by big margin is a shot in the arm of PDP, which is under scathing attack of critics including NC and Congress for allying with Bhartiya Janata Party, in Jammu and Kashmir. The by-election was seen as the first major test of PDP’s popularity in South Kashmir, the party’s traditional bastion.
In the 2014 polls, PDP founder and former Chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had defeated Congress candidate Shah by 6,000 votes and the margin has doubled this year with 12,085. The total number of registered voters in the Anantnag Assembly segment is 84,067 with 42,840 males and 41,227 females.
However, only around 28,500 voters participated in the election, with poll percentage pegged at 34 per cent, down by five per cent compared to the 2014 Assembly polls amidst separatists’ and militants’ boycott call.
Today’s win is Mehbooba’s fourth to the Assembly from South Kashmir since 1996 when she started her political career as Congress candidate and contested from her home constituency, Bijbehara. She was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Anantnag Parliament seat in 2014 general elections but returned to State politics in April this year to take over as Chief Minister after her father’s demise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today congratulated Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on her “phenomenal” victory in the by-poll for Anantnag Assembly seat. “Congratulations to J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti for the phenomenal victory in the Anantnag Assembly by-election,” Modi tweeted.
Meanwhile, Opposition NC and Congress alleged Electronic Voting Machine tampering. “A lot of EVMs in Anantnag were without mandatory seals/locks. Electoral staff says since teachers were incharge, their inexperience is the reason,” NC spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu alleged. He, however, congratulated Mehbooba for her victory.
Congress candidate Hilal Shah also alleged that EVM machines were tempered. But District Magistrate Anantnag, Syed Abid Rasheed Shah refuted the allegations of tampering of EVMs.
Election on June 22 was necessitated in Anantnag constituency due to the death of Mehbooba Mufti’s father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7 this year. He expired after brief illness at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi. He had taken reins of the State last year in March by allying with BJP.
Mehbooba in her message after victory extended her heartfelt gratitude to the people of Anantnag for giving her a decisive and resounding mandate to implement the mission and vision of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.”I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the emancipated voters of Anantnag and our party cadres for their support and hard work,” she said.
“This victory belongs to you, the people of Anantnag and the people of Jammu and Kashmir on whose support I will be counting immensely in the days and months to come to pull Jammu and Kashmir out of the morass and usher the state into an era of peace and prosperity,” she said and added that the trust reposed by the people of Anantnag in her, is a vindication of their love and affection for Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, “which they have reiterated by handing-over a decisive mandate to me”.
“It is an honour and a privilege to be elected from a seat which was represented by my father and I am heartened that the voters of Anantnag have put their trust in me to continue the work on his behalf,” she said
“I assure you that I will try to accomplish the mission and vision of Mufti Sahab to bring peace to Jammu and Kashmir and happiness in the lives of its people,” Mehbooba said and added that her priority is the people and not the power. “I would continue to work for my people to end their miseries,” she said.
Mehbooba said she is especially overwhelmed by the support extended by the youth of the area to the inclusive and progressive policies of her Government aimed at bringing political stability and economic prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Chief Minister said the credit for PDP’s impressive performance in this election, undoubtedly, goes to the disciplined, dedicated and ideologically motivated cadres of the party. She complimented PDP cadres for having successfully and effectively carried the party’s political and economic agenda to the grassroots level.
“It is because of the untiring and selfless efforts of the PDP cadres that their party has today become a real people’s movement across Jammu and Kashmir,” she said and added that she would also like to express her gratitude to those who couldn’t vote in this election for various reasons.
She also expressed gratitude to the Kashmiri Pandits for voting decisively in her favour. “I am also grateful to my Pandit brethren for having voted decisively in my favour,” she said. “It would be my endeavour to work for the welfare of the people, especially the youth, who have suffered untold miseries because of the political and economic instability and uncertainties plaguing the State for the past more than six decades,” she said adding; “All of you will be going to be with me in the new era that is to begin for JK soon.”
Governor N.N. Vohra has also conveyed his congratulations to Mehbooba Mufti, on her election to the Legislative Assembly and wished success to her future endeavours.
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