Seven independent candidates have emerged victorious in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls, marking an increase from the 2014 elections when three such candidates had won.
Satesh Sharma, who left the Congress and contested as an independent from the Chhamb seat of Jammu region, won the election by defeating BJP candidate Rajeev Sharma with a margin of 6,929 votes. Satesh Sharma, 42, who is son of two-time MP and former Congress minister Madan Lal Sharma, polled 33,985 votes.
Former deputy chief minister and Congress candidate Tara Chand, who had won this seat three times, finished third with 16,449 votes. In Inderwal, independent candidate Payare Lal Sharma defeated veteran leader Gulam Mohammad Saroori by a narrow margin of 643 votes. Sharma received 14,195 votes, while Saroori, also an independent candidate, secured 13,552 votes. Saroori had previously won this seat twice.