J&K Election Result: Setback for Sajjad Lone; PDP's Mir Mohammad Fayaz wins Kupwara seat

The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) Mir Mohammad Fayaz won the Kupwara assembly seat in J&K, defeating National Conference's senior leader Omar Abdullah's close confidante Nasir Aslam Wani by a margin of 9797 votes. Fayaz secured a total of 27,773 votes, while Wani received 17,976 votes.

Veteran Sajjad Gani Lone followed in third place with 7457 votes.

The Kupwara assembly segment in north Kashmir's Kupwara district is gearing up for a heated electoral contest, as the Peoples Conference (PC) and National Conference are both fielding prominent candidates with long-standing political legacies.

Sajjad Gani Lone is pitted against National Conference's senior leader Omar Abdullah's close confidante Nasir Aslam Wani, the grandson of a former minister, the late Ghulam Nabi Sogami in the Kupwara assembly constituency.

Electorate and Key Candidates

In Kupwara, Lone is also competing against Fayaz Mir of PDP and Peerzada Firdous of Awami Ittehad Party. The main parties in the constituency are the Jammu and Kashmir People Conference (JKPC), the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), and the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP).

The Kupwara constituency in 2014 was won by JKPC's Bashir Ahmad Dar. In 2008, the JKNC's Mir Saifullah won the constituency for the third time consecutively. During the 2002 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Saifullah defeated Independent candidate Ghulam Qadir Mir and Congress candidate Chowdhary Salam-u-din. In 1996, Saifullah won the seat for the first time, while JKNC's Mushtaq Ahmed Lone emerged victorious in the constituency in 1987.

Vote Share (2014)

Winner: Bashir Ahmad Dar (JKPC): 24,754 votes, 34.47 % (vote share)

Mir Mohd Fayaz (JKPDP): 24,603 votes, 34.26 % (vote share)

Margin of Victory: 151

Party Performance in Previous Elections

In the 2014 assembly elections, the PDP emerged as the single-largest party in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, securing 28 out of 87 seats. The BJP followed closely as the second-largest party with 25 seats, while the National Conference and Congress managed only 15 and 12 seats, respectively.

Background of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections

As the region recently held assembly elections in phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1, this election marks the first since the abrogation of Article 370. The Election Commission of India reported a noteworthy voter turnout of 63.88% in these elections. In this election cycle, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and Congress contested jointly as partners in the INDIA alliance, while the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opted to fight independently.