Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti won the Anantnag bypoll by 12,086 votes beating Congress and National Conference candidates.
After last Counting round, Mehbooba Mufti got 17701 votes followed by Hilal Ahmad Shah of Congress who got 5616 and Iftikhar Misger of National Conference who got 2811votes, District Election Authorities said. Mehbooba is among eight candidates in the bypoll for Anantnag Assembly seat which was necessitated due to death of incumbent MLA and then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7 this year.
The by-election in Anantnag took place following the death of the then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who represented the constituency in the 87-member legislative house. Sayeed passed away in New Delhi on 7 January after a brief illness. Mehbooba assumed office after being sworn in as the Chief Minister of the PDP-BJP coalition government on April 4.
Polling in the constituency was held on June 22 during which over 28,000 of the 84,000 voters exercised their franchise. The counting of votes was briefly suspended following protests by the Congress candidate who alleged that EVMs could have been tampered with in the strong room. An official spokesman of the Congress said the party has demanded deferment of counting in Anantnag, “as the EVMs were found without seal”.
Accusing the state and the Central governments of managing lead in favour of Mehbooba Mufti, the spokesman said Congress has asked the Election authorities to stop the counting immediately. “The party strongly urges upon the Election Commission of India to depute observers in the counting hall to ascertain the factual position,” he added.
