Massive Electoral Upset: 89 Candidates Lose Deposits in J&K

In a dramatic electoral outcome in Jammu and Kashmir, 89 out of 100 candidates for five Lok Sabha seats lost their security deposits. Sheikh Abdul Rashid emerged as the only winning candidate with less than 50% vote share. Significant victories were secured by leaders like Aga Roohullah Mehdi and Jitendra Singh.

Nearly 90 percent of candidates vying for the five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir lost their security deposits, according to Election Commission data. This was because they failed to secure one-sixth of the votes in their respective constituencies.

The voters delivered a decisive mandate to the winners in all but one seat in the union territory. Data revealed that 89 candidates out of 100 lost their security deposits.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, an Independent contender, emerged as the sole winning candidate with less than 50 percent of total votes polled, securing 45.70 percent in the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat. Notably, Rashid defeated political figures like former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and People's Conference president Sajad Gani Lone. Baramulla was the only constituency where the third-placed candidate—Sajad Gani Lone— saved his security deposit with 16.76 percent votes against the 16.34 percent required.

Other key winners included National Conference leader Aga Roohullah Mehdi, who achieved the highest vote percentage at 52.85, and BJP's Jugal Kishore, who won a hat-trick in the Jammu Lok Sabha seat with 52.80 percent votes. Additionally, BJP leader and Union Minister Jitendra Singh secured a third consecutive victory in Udhampur with 51.28 percent votes, while NC's Mian Altaf Ahmad claimed the Anantnag-Rajouri seat with 50.85 percent votes.

Significantly, Ghulam Nabi Azad's Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) faced a severe defeat as all three of its candidates lost their security deposits, with none securing even four percent of the votes. Ghulam Mohammad Saroori garnered just 3.56 percent of votes in Udhampur, Mohammad Saleem Parray got 2.49 percent in Anantnag-Rajouri, and Aamir Bhat secured 2.24 percent votes in Srinagar. Among seven female candidates, only PDP president Mehbooba Mufti managed to save her security deposit.