Amidst prevailing tension in Jammu and Kashmir and after winning his bypoll seat from Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah said that AFSPA should have left Kashmir long ago. The party will not celebrate his win in the Lok Sabha bypoll for Srinagar today.
Speaking to reporters at the National Conference's headquarters in Srinagar, Abdullah thanked God that he had won despite the low voter-turnout of 7.14 percent and said that the elections were the worst ever due to the bloodshed.
In light of the incident where the army propped a civilian on the bonnet of a jeep and him as a shield, Abdullah said that Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) should have gone from the state a long time ago.
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Speaking to Outlook, National Conference spokesman Junaid Azim has said that the party will not celebrate Farooq Abdullah's win. Azim also said that as eight people have been killed during the by-election there will be no celebrations.
Abdullah polled around 48,554 votes against Khan, who got 37,779 votes, officials said.
The polling for the seat was held on April 9 amid large- scale violence that left eight persons dead and several dozen others injured.
The constituency had recorded an abysmal 7.13 per cent voter turnout, the lowest ever in its history.
The Election Commission had ordered repolling in 38 polling stations in violence-hit areas on April 13.
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This will be the third term as Lok Sabha member for Abdullah, whose victory is being seen as a major setback for the ruling PDP. He was earlier elected to the House of People in 1980 and 2009.
Although there were seven other candidates in the fray, it was NOTA that bagged the second runner-up spot with over 930 voters choosing this option.
National Conference workers did not celebrate the win of their party president as mark of respect to the eight youths killed in firing by security forces on April 9.
The bypoll to the seat was necessitated after the then PDP leader Tariq Hamid Karra resigned from the Lower House of Parliament in protest against the "atrocities" inflicted upon the people during the unrest triggered by killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani last year.
With PTI Inputs
