Anantnag: J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wins the bypoll by 12,000 votes, reports ANI. She has retained the south Kashmir assembly voting demographic for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The counting started early Saturday morning and after the seventh round of numbering she was ahead of her closest rival Congress candidate by about 9,000 votes where she had almost 12,000 votes and Congress’ Hilal Ahmad Shah had 3,700 votes.
Iftikhar Hussain Misghar of the National Conference had secured just 1,700 votes in the Anantnag constituency that was once a bastion of his party.
The vote count, which began in the morning, was briefly disrupted after Congress supporters alleged descripancies in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and that bogus votes were being counted in the name of postal ballots.
However, the counting resumed immediately even as dozens of supporters of the Congress candidate shouted anti-government slogans and protested over “unsealed” postal ballots.
The returning officer refused to entertain his protest, leading to a ruckus inside the counting centre at Government Degree College, Anantnag and disruption in the vote count.