Srinagar: In close contested repolls for the two District Development Council (DDC) seats in north Kashmir, independent candidates were declared winners on Thursday. While the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference-backed independent candidate was declared the winner at Kupwara's Drugmulla, voters at Bandipora's Hajin-A expressed their faith in the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party-backed independent candidate.
In Drugmulla, independent candidate, advocate Aamina Majeed has been declared as the winner while securing a total of 3,259 votes against her nearest rival candidate of People's Conference Shabnam Rehman, who secured 3,220 votes, officials said. They further said, "Apni Party's Hameeda Begum secured 1,474, Bharatiya Janata Party's Shakeela Akhter got 877 while Indian National Congress' Shabroz Hassan managed just 746 votes. Out of 10,675 votes polled, a total of 240 were declared invalid."
Speaking about the Hajin-A results, the officer said, "Independent candidate Naza Bano has been declared as the winner securing 2,706 votes. People's Conference's Ateeqa Bano, who secured 2,283 came second, while Bharatiya Janata Party's Kulsooma Begum could only manage 387 votes." "Out of 8,682 votes polled, a total of 813 were declared invalid," the official added. According to the locals, advocate Aamina Majeed has the backing of Dr Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference while Naza Bano was backed by Altaf Bukhari-led Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, which was evident during their campaigning, too.
Also read: Polling underway for re-poll in J-K
On December 5, the polling for the DDC seats of Hajin-A in Bandipora and Drugmulla in Kupwara was conducted. According to officials, a 53.33 per cent turnout was recorded in Hajin-A, while 32.73 per cent was witnessed in Drugmulla. "In all, 57 polling stations were set up in Hajin-A whereas Drugmulla had 42 polling stations. Besides, as many as 141 votes were also cast at special polling stations for Kashmiri migrants set up at Jagti, Patta Bohri and Udhampur," officials said.
