DDC elections: BJP opens account in Kashmir with 3 seats

The Bharatiya Janata Party opened its account in Kashmir valley winning three seats. This is the first time that the BJP has won an election from any seat in Kashmir while facing regional heavyweights like the National Conference and the PDP.

Srinagar: The BJP won three seats in Kashmir valley in the District Development Council (DDC) elections on Tuesday while the saffron party got 73 in the Jammu division.

This is the first time that the BJP has won an election from any seat in Kashmir while facing regional heavyweights like the National Conference and the PDP.

Aijaz Hussain won the Khonmoh-II District Development Council seat in Srinagar, while Aijaz Ahmad Khan gave the party more reason to cheer by winning the Tulail seat in Bandipora district. In Pulwama, BJP's Minha Latif won the seat.

The BJP had campaigned aggressively in the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir where several senior leaders of the party camped for weeks during the DDC elections.

Notably, this is the first election after Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 was revoked last year and it was reorganised into a Union Territory.

The polling, which took place in eight phases, commenced on November 28 and ended on December 19.

A total of over 2,000 candidates, including over 450 women, were in the fray for the 280 DDC seats.

There are 140 DDC seats in Jammu, 14 in each district across the region that recorded a heavy turnout of voters in the just concluded polls.