J&K poll: PDP emerges as largest party in a hung house, BJP second

Srinagar:  Jammu and Kashmir was on Tuesday heading for a hung Assembly with PDP emerging as the single largest party by bagging 25 seats and leading in 3 while BJP also made gains by winning 24 seats and was ahead on 1, all in Jammu, but it failed to make inroads in the Valley.

Outgoing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah won from Beerwah but lost in Sonawar while his National Conference, which was the single largest party in 2008 assembly polls with 28 seats, bagged 15 seats this time. Congress, which was part of the ruling coalition led by Omar, won 11 seats and was ahead in one. It had won 17 seats in the last election.

Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather was among the prominent losers. Omar defeated Congress' Nazir Ahmed in Beerwah but lost to PDP candidate Mohammad Ashraf Mir from Sonawar seat while Rather was defeated by opposition party's Ghulam Nabi Lone from Charar-e-Sharief. This was Rather's first defeat in assembly elections since 1977.

Among the prominent winners were People's Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed from Anantnag and former JK Bank chairman Haseeb Drabu from Pulawama as the party swept all four Assembly seats in Pulwama district.

Separatist turned mainstream politician Sajjad Gani Lone defeated National Conference minister Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan from Handwara. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand of Congress lost to BJP's Krishan Lal from Chamb constituency by a margin of 14,790 votes.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (CPIM) was trailing by 200 votes against PDP candidate Nazir Ahmad Laway from Kulgam constituency. The lone woman minister in Omar Abdullah government, Sakina Itoo of National Conference, was trailing by over 4000 votes against PDP candidate Abdul Majid Padder. BJP, which bagged 11 seats last time, has won 24 seats and was ahead in one.