Mehbooba Mufti wins Anantnag bypoll

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday won the Anantnag Assembly seat by 12,085 votes, driving home a point that her popularity remains unaffected by the Peoples Democratic Party’s decision to join hands with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir.

Of 28,500 polled votes, the PDP candidate Ms. Mufti has secured 17,701 votes, followed by Congress’ Hilal Shah with 5,616. National Conference (NC) Iftikhar Misger stood a distant third with 2,811 votes.

The PDP’s winning margin has considerably gone up in Anantnag despite the NC and the Congress pegging its campaign on the anti-BJP wave and cornering Ms. Mufti over her alliance partner.

In the 2014 polls, Mr. Sayeed defeated Congress candidate Mr. Shah by 6,000 votes and the margin has doubled this year with 12,000 lead by Ms. Mufti.