BJP fails to perform in Pir Panjal

Rajouri, Oct 8: Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has failed to perform in Pir Panjal region comprising of Rajouri and Poonch districts as it lost on seven out of eight assembly constituencies.

Party’s J&K state president Ravinder Raina, general secretary Vibodh Gupta, a former minister, two former legislators and a sitting DDC member have also lost elections. The biggest loss for party is from Nowshera where BJP’s State President Ravinder Raina lost to NC’s Surinder Chowdhary while party’s general secretary Vibodh Gupta lost elections from Rajouri assembly constituency with Congress candidate Iftikhar Ahmed registered win.

Similarly, from Budhal assembly constituency of border district Rajouri, BJP candidate Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, a former cabinet minister, lost elections to his nephew and NC candidate Javed Iqbal Choudhary while another BJP stalwart political leader, sitting DDC member from Darhal and candidate from Thanamandi, Mohammad Iqbal Malik lost to independent candidate Muzaffar Iqbal Khan.

Alongside it, BJP lost on all three seats of Poonch districts where party candidate Ch Abdul Ghani lost to NC candidate Ajaz Jan on Poonch Haveli seat while former MLC and party candidate Murtaza Khan from Mendhar lost to NC candidate Javed Rana from Mendhar assembly constituency.

Similarly, Former Minister Syed Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, BJP candidate from Surankote who died last week also lost elections as people voted independent candidate Akram Chowdhary to win.

The only constituency where BJP has registered win in the region is Kalakote Sunderbani of Rajouri where party candidate Thakur Randhir Singh won from his nephew and NC candidate Thakur Yashu Vardhan Singh.