National Conference won two of the five Assembly constituencies it was engaged in a friendly fight with its ally Congress in Jammu & Kashmir, while two went to the BJP, and Aam Aadmi Party pocketed one. NC bagged the Banihal and Sopore seats in the Valley, while the BJP won Bhaderwah and Nagrota in the Jammu province. AAP’s lone victory came from Doda, also in Jammu province. Congress’s former J&K president, Vikar Rasool Wani, who launched a no-holds-barred attack against the NC during campaigning, finished third from Banihal, won by NC’s Sajad Shaheen by 12,670 votes. Wani, while addressing a rally on the outskirts of Banihal twon as part of his campaigning, had described NC leaders as “blood suckers’’ and their party flag “stained with blood’’. The Congress, however, had distanced itself from his statements. From Sopore, NC’s Irshad Rasool Kar was declared elected, defeating Mursaleen Aajir, an independent, by over 20,000 votes. From Doda, AAP’s Mehraj Malik got elected, opening an account for the Arvind Kejriwal-led party in the J&K Assembly. In Bhaderwah, BJP’s Daleep Singh Parihar won, defeating NC’s Sheikh Mehbooba Iqbal by a comfortable margin. From Nagrota, Devender Singh Rana of the BJP was re-elected, defeating NC’s Joginder Singh by a margin of 30,472 votes. Congress’s Balbir Singh finished third from the seat.
