Council polls: NC keeps a seat each in Jammu, Valley

NC’s Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo got elected to the Legislative Council from Jammu, and Qaiser Jamshed Lone from the valley.

BJP’s both the candidates — Vibodh Gupta and Charanjeet Singh — were elected from Jammu, while PDP’s Surinder Kumar Choudhary and Javaid Ahmad were elected from Jammu and the Valley respectively.

While BJP’s third candidate Ramesh Arora had reportedly retired from the contest paving way for the election of Kichloo, NC in a keenly contested electoral battle managed to retain one of the two seats in the Council from the Valley with the help of Congress and some non-aligned members.

In the 89-member Legislative Assembly, the PDP-BJP combine has 55 members, including two nominated women members.

The NC has 15 members, Congress 12 and others seven. Of these seven, two Independents — one each from Udhampur and Zanskar — are on the side of the ruling coalition.