#J&K Bypolls: Voters Turn Out Despite Cold as Polling Progresses in Budgam, Nagrota Bypolls
Budgam-Nagrota voting begins in crucial popularity test.
Voting commenced amid biting cold on Tuesday morning for the high-stakes Budgam and Nagrota assembly bypolls in Jammu and Kashmir, where over two lakh electors have begun deciding the political fate of 37 candidates in what is being widely viewed as a direct referendum on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s young government and the BJP’s continuing influence in the Union Territory.
In Budgam, more than 1.26 lakh voters across 173 polling stations are choosing between 17 candidates, with National Conference’s Aga Mahmood facing an intense multi-cornered fight against PDP’s Aga Muntazir, BJP’s Aga Mohsin, AIP’s Nazir Ahmad Khan, and AAP’s Deeba Khan. The seat fell vacant after Omar Abdullah vacated it to retain Ganderbal, making this bypoll a direct test of whether the NC can hold its chief minister’s former stronghold.
The ruling National Conference has pulled out all stops, with Omar personally camping in Budgam for three consecutive days, reviving emotional appeals around Articles 370 and 35A while launching blistering attacks on the PDP for its 2014 alliance with the BJP. Yet the party faces unprecedented internal trouble as influential Shia leader and Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi has refused to campaign, signalling serious dissatisfaction within the NC’s own ranks over governance and unfulfilled promises.
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Opposition candidates have mounted a ferocious campaign accusing the Omar Abdullah government of failing to deliver on core election pledges — 200 units of free electricity, 12 subsidized LPG cylinders annually, large-scale job creation, and a fair reservation policy — turning the bypoll into a virtual no-confidence motion barely a year after the NC stormed to power.
In Nagrota, a charged triangular contest is underway between BJP’s Deviyani Rana (daughter of late MLA Devender Singh Rana), NC’s Shamim Begum, and Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party chief Harsh Dev Singh, with 97,893 voters at 150 polling stations. Both Omar Abdullah and Union Minister Jitendra Singh have led aggressive campaigns, making this seat another direct prestige battle that will reveal whether the BJP’s Jammu dominance remains unshaken or if the NC can expand its footprint beyond the Valley.
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