Farooq Abdullah’s NC Sweeps Kashmir Valley, BJP Wins Jammu, Ladakh

As National Conference won all three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir valley, BJP won the two seats in Jammu and the one in Ladakh.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah won the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat for a fourth time. The 83-year-old three time former chief minister of the state, Farooq Abdullah, has lost an election only once in his 42-year political career since his debut in 1980.

While NC candidate Hasnian Masoodi registered victory in the Anantnag constituency, his party colleague Akbar Lone won from Baramulla. Masoodi defeated Congress state president Ghulam Ahmad Mir with a margin of over 8000 votes while Lone's nearest rival Raja Ejaz Ali from the People's Conference lost the battle in Baramulla by 20000 votes.

People's Democratic Party which failed to open its account this time, had won all three seats in the Kashmir valley in 2014.

While the BJP’s resounding victory at the national level has cast a shadow over the NC’s victory in Kashmir, the scene outside BJP state headquarters in Jammu was ecstatic. “It is a vote for the development. Also, the surgical strike showed the country a resolve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Sat Sharma, former BJP president, said. Party workers were seen distributing sweets and bursting crackers.