PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir wins Budgam bypoll

With the by-election count on Friday showing the People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate taking the lead in the Budgam seat, this marks the first major setback for the ruling National Conference (NC), which had won the previous year’s Assembly elections in Kashmir.

Voting for the Budgam Assembly constituency was held on Monday and recorded over 50 per cent turnout. The seat had fallen vacant after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had won from both Budgam and Ganderbal in the last election, chose to retain the latter.

In the present elections, NC campaign took place without the involvement of Srinagar MP and senior party leader Syed Aga Ruhullah, who has represented the constituency thrice but chose to stay away.

Ruhullah has emerged as one of the party’s sharpest critics, accusing the leadership and Chief Minister Abdullah of failing to fulfil poll promises.

Going by Friday’s result, it now appears that the Ruhullah factor played a role in the NC loss and that the party decision to “ignore” him likely cost the seat. Of late, NC leaders had statements against Ruhullah, angering his supporters on ground.

On Friday, when the PDP workers celebrated the win, they were raising slogans in support of Ruhullah saying he and his contributions to NC “cannot be ignored.”

Budgam bypoll result is also set to create ripples with the National Conference as party leadership was confident of winning the seat in absence of Ruhullah.

The result also reflects public mood towards the ruling party, which completed one year in office last month and has faced criticism for not meeting expectations of people.

Srinagar based Professor Noor Baba said PDP’s win should definitely worry the NC government. He said that a number of factors, including not meeting the expectations for last year contributed to the party’s loss in Budgam.

The Budgam results are, however, significant for the PDP. The party, which had bagged 28 seats in 2014, managed to win only three in last year’s Assembly elections.

A victory — which would bring the total number of MLAs for the PDP in the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly to four — would give the PDP a much-needed morale boost after last year’s setback.