J&K Assembly Poll Results: Sajad Lone Wins Handwara Seat By Thin Margin, Loses Kupwara

Handwara and Kupwara went to polls in the last phase of the three-phase elections on October 1.

Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference (JKPC) president Sajad Lone has won the assembly elections from the Handwara constituency, considered the walnut hub of Kashmir, by a margin of 662 votes. The seat saw a contest between a total of seven candidates but the main challenger of Lone in this seat was National Conference veteran Chowdry Mohammad Ramzan.

Lone, however, lost the Kupwara seat as he gained just 7,457 votes to come in third. He lost by a margin of 20,316 votes to PDP's Mir Mohammed Fayaz. During the 2014 polls, Lone's party colleague Bashir Ahmad Dar defeated Fayaz by a mere 151 votes. 

Handwara and Kupwara went to polls in the last phase of the three-phase elections on October 1. Handwara 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.

Handwara Seat 2014 Results

Lone won the seat in the assembly elections held in 2014 by defeating National Conference candidate Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan by a margin of over 5,000 votes. Lone's father, late Abdul Gani Lone, had won the seat thrice in 1967, 1972 and 1977. 

In the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, Handwara logged the highest voter turnout of over 67.5% among the various assembly segments in the parliamentary constituency. Sajad Lone lost the Lok Sabha elections to Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, by a margin of about 300,000 votes.

The last Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections were held in 2014. In these elections, any of the major parties failed to bag a full majority. While the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP bagged 28 seats, the BJP was the second-largest party in the state with 25 seats.

The halfway mark in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly is at 46 seats. Since neither the PDP nor the BJP could get a simple majority, the two parties entered a coalition and the government lasted till June 19, 2018.

The state government collapsed on June 19, 2018, as the BJP withdrew its support citing a lack of alignment with the PDP on critical issues, including the handling of militancy. Jammu and Kashmir came under the Governor's rule, followed by the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.