Bagging 49 seats, independents emerge as key players in J&K DDC polls KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 12/24/2020 12:59:38 PM
JAMMU, Dec 23: Independent candidates have emerged as big winners in Jammu and Kashmir s maiden District Development Council polls, with 49 of them having been declared elected so far from 280 seats, putting them ahead of parties like the Congress and the PDP.
Among the big Independent wins is Taranjit Singh defeating BJP s two-time MLA and former minister Sham Lal Choudhary in Suchetgarh in Jammu region by a slender margin of 11 votes.
Though the BJP maintained its supremacy by emerging as the single largest party with 74 seats and is leading in another seat, the defeat of its stalwarts Choudhary and another former minister Shakti Raj Parihar, who lost from two constituencies in Doda district, has come as a shock for it.
Bagging 49 Seats Out of 280, Independents Emerge as Key Player in J&K DDC Polls
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Independent candidates have emerged as big winners in Jammu and Kashmir’s maiden District Development Council polls, with 49 of them having been declared elected so far from 280 seats, putting them ahead of parties like the Congress and the PDP. Among the big Independent wins is Taranjit Singh defeating BJP’s two-time MLA and former minister Sham Lal Choudhary in Suchetgarh in Jammu region by a slender margin of 11 votes.
Though the BJP maintained its supremacy by emerging as the single largest party with 74 seats and is leading in another seat, the defeat of its stalwarts Choudhary and another former minister Shakti Raj Parihar, who lost from two constituencies in Doda district, has come as a shock for it. Choudhary lost to Singh by a razor-thin margin. Singh polled 12,969 votes against Choudhary’s 12958, according to the results declared by the J&K Election Commissioner in the ea
Choudhary, who originally hailed from Bhimber Tehsil in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir before his family migrated to border village Chakroi in R S Pura sector, had won Suchetgarh assembly seat for the first time in 2008 and repeated the performance for the party in 2014. Singh expressed gratitude to his voters and said the vote for him was against the farm laws imposed by the BJP government on the farmers of the country against their will . The BJP went for aggressive campaigning bringing union ministers, chief ministers and national leaders to divert the attention of the voters from the real issues facing the public, Singh, who finally prevailed after a neck-to-neck fight with the BJP leader, said.