Nizamuddin Bhat wins from Bandipora, Kashmir
Reportedly Congress's performance on its own in the Jammu kashmir assembly elections has reached its lowest level ever, as only one of its 29 candidates in the Jammu region has won. In this election, its prominent leaders including two working presidents of the congress lost the election. However, the congress has said that the results in the Jammu region are not in line with the party's expectations and a detailed response will be sought on this defeat.
Perhaps congress, which contested the elections in a pre-poll alliance with the National Conference, had fielded 32 candidates, most of whom were in the Jammu region, while the regional party had fielded 51 candidates. Apart from this, the party OF INDIA' target='_blank' title='communist party of india-Latest Updates, Photos, Videos are a click away, CLICK NOW">communist party of india (Marxist) and Jammu kashmir National Panthers party (JKNPP) were given one seat each.
Moreover there was a 'friendly contest' between congress and National Conference on five seats. In the Jammu region, the congress was able to win only the Rajouri seat, while in 2014 it had won a total of five seats. Congress' Iftikhar Ahmad secured 28,923 votes and defeated his nearest rival Vibodh Gupta of the bharatiya janata party (BJP) by a margin of 1,404 votes. As per the seat-sharing agreement, the National Conference did not field any candidate from the constituency.
However, the congress managed to win five seats in kashmir, with state congress president Tariq Hameed Karra winning from Central Shalteng, AICC general secretary and former minister G A Mir from Dooru, Irfan Hafiz Lone from Wagoora-Kreeri, former minister Peerzada Mohammad Syed from anantnag and former mla Nizamuddin Bhat from Bandipora.