The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been defeated by Abdul Rashid Sheikh who is also known as Engineer Rashid. He has secured a victory by a margin of one lakh votes in the Baramulla seat. The counting of votes continue as the fate of the nation is being decided.
The official results are yet to come out but the National Conference Leader Omar Abdullah has accepted defeat.
I think it’s time to accept the inevitable. Congratulations to Engineer Rashid for his victory in North Kashmir. I don’t believe his victory will hasten his release from prison nor will the people of North Kashmir get the representation they have a right to but the voters have…
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 4, 2024
Rashid’s victory comes as a shock as the candidate had been in Tihar Jail for the past 5 years held under the charges of UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). The election campaing was led by his two sons as he was in jail at that point, he contested as an independent candidate.
Till 1:30 pm, Rashid was leading by about 2,57,523 votes while National Conference candidate Abdullah trailed by about 1,37,377 votes. Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) leader Sajad Lone, who was also a candidate from the seat, polled around 96,000 votes.
Rashid, a 57-year-old engineer, is a former two-time MLA from Langate in north Kashmir. Before joining mainstream politics, he was a close aide of slain Hurriyat leader and JKPC founder Abdul Gani Lone, father of Sajad Lone. Baramul is one of the three seats in the Kashmir division, apart from Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajour, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not fielded a single candidate.
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