Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference (JKPC) president Sajad Lone is trailing in both Kupwara and Handwara constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir. In Handwara, Lone is facing the veteran NC leader Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, who has won the seat four times. PDP'Gauhar Azad Mir, BJP's Ghulam Mohammad Mir and Abdul Majid Banday of Awami Ittehad Party.
Handwara went to polls in the last phase of the three-phase elections on October 1 and saw a voting turnout of 72.78%. The seat, with around 98,000 voters, is part of the Baramulla-Kupwara Lok Sabha constituency. Peoples Democratic Party's Gauhar Azad Mir and BJP's Ghulam Mohammad Mir were also in the poll fray.
Lone is a former separatist from north Kashmir who joined politics by fighting parliamentary elections in 2009 and started his political party. In 2014, he was a minister in the then Mehbooba Mufti-led government from the BJP's quota. He hit out at the BJP in his poll rallies this time as INDIA bloc parties labelled him and other parties outside the alliance as proxies of the BJP.
In Kupwara, Lone was pitted against National Conference's senior leader Nasir Aslam Wani, the grandson of former minister, the late Ghulam Nabi Sogami, and a confidant of NC chief Omar Abdullah. The other contenders in the seat were Fayaz Mir of PDP and Peerzada Firdous of Awami Ittehad Party. The seat with around 100,000 voters went to polls in the last phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on October 1 and saw a turnout of 64.25%.