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Jammu, Nov 14 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Devyani Rana on Friday won the Nagrota Assembly by-election in Jammu and Kashmir by defeating her nearest rival Harsh Dev Singh of the Panthers Party.
Devyani Rana was declared the winner in the Nagrota Assembly by-election after she defeated her nearest rival, Harsh Dev Singh of J&K National Panthers Party (JKNPP) by a margin of over 21,000 votes.
Ruling National Conference (NC) party candidate Shamim Begum came third with just over 10,000 votes polled in her favour.
As soon as the victory of the party candidate in Nagrota was announced, celebrations started in the BJP camp in Jammu.
Devyani Rana is the daughter of late Devendra Singh Rana, who won the Nagrota seat in the 2024 assembly elections.
The by-election became necessary due to the death of veteran party leader Devendra Singh Rana on October 31, 2024.
In the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, the BJP has 29 seats, while the National Conference has 41 seats.
Counting is currently going on in Budgam assembly seat of the valley. After the sixth round, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Agha Syed Muntazir Mehdi is leading over his NC rival Agha Syed Mehmood by 2,100 votes.
The Budgam bypoll was held after the NC candidate, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, resigned from the seat. Omar had won two seats, Ganderbal and Budgam, in the 2024 assembly elections.
He decided to resign from Budgam seat and represent Ganderbal constituency in the assembly.
It is noteworthy that NC Lok Sabha member, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, who hails from Budgam and is a Shia Muslim leader, decided to stay away from the NC election campaign in Budgam due to differences with the party leadership.
Congress, with six MLAs, decided to extend outside support to the Omar Abdullah-led NC government without joining it.
Of the six independent candidates who won the 2024 assembly elections, five later joined the NC.
–IANS
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