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BJP triumphs in Jammu-Poonch, NC gets Srinagar
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
SRINAGAR, MARCH 9: Congress today suffered a setback losing two Lok Sabha seats in J&K to BJP and National Conference as counting of ballots for two more parliamentary seats in the State was in progress.BJP wrested the Jammu-Poonch seat from Congress when its candidate Vaid Vishno Dutt trounced Janak Raj Gupta of National Conference by 1,27,901 votes.In a 13-cornered contest, Mangat Ram Sharma of Congress, which held sway over the constituency since 1980, finished third with 1,40,032 votes.Sharma, a former speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, won the seat in the 1996 Lok Sabha election. Dutt, a sitting MLA, polled 3,36,472 votes while Gupta, who had won on Congress ticket earlier, got 2,08,571.The triumph of NC in Srinagar parliamentary constituency comes as a birthday gift to Omer Abdullah, son of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, who is making his maiden entry to Lok Sabha.Omer, who turns 28 tomorrow, humbled Agha Syed Mehdi of Congress by over 70,839 votes. The NC candidate polled 1,44, 609 votesagainst Mehdi's 73,770.
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