 "Mata Vaishno Devi, Vaishno Devi")
Reasi: Mata Vaishno Devi shrine on the first day of Navratri festival, in Reasi district, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (Photo: PTI)
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Assembly constituency in Jammu-Kashmir, which entered its inaugural poll, elected Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Baldev Raj Sharma as its first MLA, the data on the Election Commission’s website showed on Tuesday. Sharma defeated his nearest rival, independent candidate Jugal Kishore by a margin of 1,995 votes.
The Congress had named Bhupinder Singh from this seat, who got a total of 5,655 votes.
The saffron party was expecting an easy win from this seat since the Narendra Modi government strongly emphasises promoting Hindu cultural heritage, which deeply resonates with supporters of Hindu nationalism in India.
Notably, during the Lok Sabha elections in June, the BJP had expected a similar outcome in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, home to Ram Mandir, but faced embarrassment after the Samajwadi Party’s Awadesh Prasad won the Faizabad seat. Ayodhya falls under Faizabad.
Overall, the National Conference-Congress party alliance appears to be winning the Jammu-Kashmir Assembly elections, the first since the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two union territories: Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh.
The NC has won 29 seats and is leading on another 12, while the Congress has won four seats and is leading at two.
First Published: Oct 08 2024 | 3:37 PM IST
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