Sayeed, Soz win Anantnag, Baramulla seats
Former Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of the Congress has been elected from Anantnag parliamentary constituency, defeating his National Conference rival Mohammad Yousuf Taing by 52,000 votes.
Sayeed, who registered his maiden victory from his home state, polled 120,444 votes while Taing, who had compiled the autobiography of late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Atish-Chinar got 68,444 votes. Union Minister of State for Home Mohammad Maqbool Dar of the Janata Dal was pushed to the third place. The Congress has wrested the seat from the Janata Dal.
In Baramulla, NC candidate Saifuddin Soz won the seat, beating Muzaffar Hussain Baig (independent) by 37,794 votes. Soz polled 130,574 votes while Baig bagged 92,700 votes. With this, the NC has wrested the seat from the Congress.
The Congress has won the Anantnag seat after more than two decades. The last Congressman to win this seat was Mohammad Shafi Qureshi, in 1977.
However, in 1980 and 1984, NC candidates Ghulam Rasool Kochak and Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah's mother Begum Akbar Jehan, respectively won this seat. Elections could not be held in 1990 due to disturbances.
But in the 1996 election, the seat went to the Janata Dal when Dar defeated Congress candidate Taj Mohi-ud-din by 58,084 votes.
Election to this constituency was held on March 7.
Sayeed maintained the lead in Anantnag, Noorabad, Kulgam, Kokernag, Doru, Shangas, Pohalgam, Devsar, Homeshalibugh and Bijbehara in Anantnag district and Pulwama assembly segment in Pulwama district.
Taing, who resigned as a member of the Public Service Commission recently to join the fray, managed small leads in only four assembly segments -- Rajpora, Wachi, Tral, Shooian and Pampore.
But most voters in Pampore assembly segment, considered a NC stronghold, did not participate in the election, protesting against the alleged custodial killing of a youth recently. Kashmiri pandit voters at Mattan also did not vote, protesting against the killings of Kashmiri pandits at Wandhama.
The poll results came as a shock to the NC
leadership. The victory of the BJP from Jammu and that
of the Congress from Anantnag have dampened the
spirits of its workers.
The voting patterns in the four constituencies of the state, where was election was held, show that of the 67 electoral segments, as many as 42 have voted against the NC. Obviously, the non-performance of the government has eroded its support base heavily, within barely two years after its return to power with a massive mandate.
Meanwhile, sources say Dr Abdullah is contemplating a cabinet reshuffle as he is not at all happy about the contribution
of his ministers to the poll campaign.
UNI, Mukhtar Ahmad
Elections '98
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