JK bypolls: NC tastes its first ever electoral defeat in Budgam

Budgam (J-K), Nov 14 (PTI) National Conference (NC) tasted its first-ever electoral defeat in the Budgam assembly segment of Jammu and Kashmir as the opposition PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir wrested the seat from the ruling party in the bypolls.

Muntazir's victory in the polls takes the PDP's tally in the J-K legislative assembly to four.

This is the first time that the NC has lost in its bastion of Budgam, in central Kashmir, since 1957, the first elections for the legislative assembly.

The NC has won every assembly election in Budgam whenever it has fielded a candidate from the Shia-dominated segment. The only time the seat was not represented by the NC was in 1972 when the party had boycotted the polls across J-K.

The bypoll in the constituency was necessitated after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the seat following his election from the family bastion of Ganderbal as well in last year's assembly polls.

Before Abdullah's election from Budgam, the seat was represented by NC's current Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, for three consecutive terms in 2002, 2008 and 2014.

Mehdi did not contest the 2024 polls as he was elected to the Parliament.

The Lok Sabha MP has since fallen out with the party leadership over several issues, including the current reservation policy in Jammu and Kashmir, and did not campaign for the party candidate for the by-election.

Ruhullah has developed differences with the party leadership as the Lok Sabha MP claims that the party is prioritising the demand for the restoration of statehood and has softened its stand on the reinstatement of Article 370.

An influential Shia leader, Mehdi's absence from the campaign and not extending support to the party candidate Aga Mehmood, who happens to be his relative, is seen as a major factor leading to NC's defeat.

Chief Minister Abdullah, in a vain bid to counter the Mehdi factor, spent the last three days on the campaign trail, deploying his cabinet colleagues and the ruling party MLAs and senior leaders to campaign for the party candidate.

The PDP also left no stone unturned to increase its tally in the assembly with party president Mehbooba Mufti leading the campaign along with three MLAs — Waheed Para, Mohammad Fayaz and Mohammad Rafiq Naik.

Muntazir, the PDP's winner, is a son of religious cleric and former separatist Aga Syed Hassan. A post-graduate in law from New Delhi's Amity University, Muntazir, a member of the influential Aga family, plunged into mainstream politics in August 2024 when he joined the PDP.

He contested last year's assembly polls as well, but lost to Abdullah by over 18000 votes. Abdullah polled 36,010 votes, while Muntazir got 17,525 votes.

The bye-election in Budgam was being seen as a litmus test of Chief Minister Abdullah's government and his party. PTI SSB MIJ AMJ AMJ