Srinagar: With the 39 percent people casting their ballot in North Kashmir on May 7, all the political parties and their candidates Thursday claimed to have won the seat. With 18 candidates in the fray, the main tussle was seen between PDP, NC and Peoples’ Conference led by Sajad Gani lone.
As the National conference Thursday stated that they have won the seat and that people in large numbers have voted for the party in Baramulla, it also claimed that no one could ever beat NC from Baramulla. “We had already won this seat, we are confident that on the day of results we will make every person to drop jaws,” said Shariq while talking to KNS.
PDP who had nominated former chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh from Baramulla stated that the wave in party’s favor swept all their rivals away and that people in droves voted for the ‘change’.
The chief spokesman of PDP and legislator Naeem Akhtar told KNS that the party will emerge victorious with the ‘respectable margin’. Peoples’ Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone told KNS that the people have given a clear message to the outer world that from now on, traditional politics will be dismissed with the scorn it merited. “You must see the percentage of voting in Kupwara, it is all because people voted for us in large numbers in the entire north Kashmir. We have won this seat. ”
Pertinently, During the election of 2009-Shariq emerged as the winner for NC- Congress coalition with 203022 votes while as the PDP candidate Mohammad Dilawar Mir lagged behind with 138208. As per the data available, the Baramulla seat was won over by Syed Ahmad Aga of Indian National Congress (INC) in 1967. In 1971, the seat was again bagged by the same candidate of the Congress. In 1977, the National Conference took control of the seat with its candidate Abdul Ahad getting 147222 votes. In 1980-the seat was again won by NC’s Khwaja Mubarak Shah with 178533 votes. Muzaffar Hussain Beigh at that time being an independent candidate managed 75256 votes. In 1984- Saif-ud-din Soz of the National Conference emerged as the winner from North Kashmir’s turf with 234357 votes in his kitty. Congress again took control of the seat in 1996. That time Ghulam Rasool Kar of INC got 110331 votes.
In 1998- Prof Soz from National Conference won in Baramulla with 131164 votes. In 1999, Abdul Rashid Shaheen of National Conference again won this Lok Sabha seat with 84243 votes. Muzaffar Hussain Beigh as an Independent candidate again turned out to be a runner up from the constituency, managing 48130. In 2004- Abdul Rashid Shaheen of National Conference won the seat with 127653. Nizam-ud-Din Bhat of PDP became runner up with 117758. In 2009, the coalition candidate of Congress and NC Sharief-ud-din Shariq won the seat managing 203022 votes.