Srinagar: Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah won the election to the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency Thursday by trouncing his nearest rival by 70,050 votes, entering the lower house of Parliament for the fourth time.
Abdullah polled 1,06,750 votes, while his his nearest rival PDP candidate Aga Syed Mohsin polled 36,700 votes, an election official said. The official pointed out that the NC leader secured a total of 57.14 per cent of the total votes polled in the election to the Srinagar constituency, which is spread over three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal. Mohsin secured 19.64 per cent of the total votes polled.
Sajad Lone-led Peoples Conference polled 28,773 votes (15.4 per cent), while BJP’s Khalid Jehangir was at the fourth position with 4,631 votes (2.48 per cent), the official informed.
The 83-year-old Abdullah – the three time former Chief Minister – has so far lost an election only once in his 42-year political career since his debut in 1980. He was first elected as member of the Lok Sabha in 1980. However, he returned to state politics in the wake of failing health of his father and National Conference founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in 1981. He succeeded as Chief Minister of the state in September 1982 following his father’s death.
Abdullah won in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, but lost to PDP candidate Tariq Hamid Karra in the 2014 elections. However, he won the 2017 by-polls to Lok Sabha after Karra resigned from the PDP as well the Lok Sabha in 2016.
PTI