“We received a lot of support from public”: Awami Ittehad Party candidate Abdul Majid Banday

Kupwara (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], October 8 (ANI): As the counting of the votes polled in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly poll is underway, Abdul Majid Banday, Awami Ittehad Party candidate from Handwara assembly constituency, on Tuesday exuded confidence in winning the election.

“We received a lot of support from the public as the elections are being held after ten years. We are hopeful of receiving the kind of mandate we received during the Lok Sabha elections,” Banday told ANI.

Meanwhile, the National Conference- Congress alliance is leading in more than half of the seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

According to the latest update from the Election Commission website as of 11.45 am, the NC is leading in 42 seats while Congress is leading 8 seats. The halfway mark in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is 45 as the total seats are 90.

The voting results will decide the electoral fate of several former ministers including Tara Chand, Muzaffar Baig, Raman Bhalla, Basharat Bukha along with Omar Abdullah, Ravinder Raina, Yousuf Tarigami and several others.

Former JK CM Omar Abdullah said that the alliance was in pole position to win and urged the BJP not to play any dirty tricks.

“We have the hope that we will win. The decision made by the voters of J&K, we will get to know by today afternoon. There should be transparency, if people’s mandate is against BJP, they shouldn’t pull off any tricks. We did alliance so we can win and we are hoping to win,” Omar Abdullah said.

In Jammu, Congress candidate from Bahu Assembly seat, TS Tony said that the Congress-NC alliance was all set to form the government.

“Congress-NC alliance is going to form the government with 2/3 majority. Earlier people trusted only statements. Now, all the lies are exposed. The people know everything now. This was the city of temples. BJP made it the city of liquors. They say that it is for revenue generation. The people are frustrated with the liquor and land mafia. They are exposed now. The public doesn’t trust them anymore. BJP is murdering the democracy. The appointment of 5 MLAs had to be done by the elected government. Even the President does not have this power of direct appointment. How can the LG have this arbitrary power?” he said.

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and Congress, partners in the INDIA alliance, jointly contested the assembly elections while the PDP and BJP fought the elections on their own.

The J-K assembly election for 90 constituencies was held over three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1.