The Peoples Democratic Party’s Iltija Mufti lost from the Srigufwara-Bijbehara Assembly constituency as the counting of votes for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections was underway on Tuesday, showed data from the Election Commission.

Mufti, who is the daughter of former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, lost to the National Conference’s Bashir Ahmad Shah Veeri by a margin of 9,770 votes.

The Srigufwara-Bijbehara seat in Anantnag is considered a Peoples Democratic Party stronghold. The party has not lost the constituency since 1996.

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Earlier in the day, Mufti said that she accepted the verdict of the people. On social media, she said: “The love and affection I received from everyone in Bijbehara will always stay with me. Gratitude to my PDP workers who worked so hard throughout this campaign.”

In the Pulwama constituency, Peoples Democratic Party leader Waheed Ur Rehman Para won by a margin of 8,148 votes. The National Conference’s Mohammad Khalil Band placed second.

Para had lost the recent Lok Sabha election from the Srinagar constituency to the National Conference’s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi.

The Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir has a strength of 119 members. While elections took place in 90 constituencies, 24 more seats are designated for areas that are in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The lieutenant governor has the power to appoint five members. Therefore, a party or an alliance needs 48 seats for a majority when the House has 95 members.

The Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir took place in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1. A voter turnout of 63.8% was recorded.

Most exit polls on Saturday projected the National Conference-Congress alliance to be ahead of the BJP.

The Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir were the first in 10 years, and the first since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019. Article 370 had granted special status to the erstwhile state. The Centre at the time also bifurcated the state into two Union territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Also read: Why PDP is on shaky ground in Kashmir a decade after it rose to power