Srinagar: The by-election on two assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir concluded on Tuesday (November 11) with around 48% voters showing up at polling stations in Budgam while Nagrota recorded a healthy turnout of over 72%, officials said.

The election in Budgam is widely seen as the first political test for the ruling National Conference government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who contested and won from two constituencies in the 2024 assembly elections.

The by-election was called after Abdullah retained his party’s traditional Ganderbal seat while vacating Budgam, both of which are in central Kashmir. The National Conference fielded Syed Aga Mehmood in the contest.

In the run up to polling day, the election took the form of a people’s verdict on the Abdullah government, now in its second year in office, with the opposition groups cornering the ruling party for its alleged betrayals since coming into office in October 2024.

Under Abdullah, the National Conference has headed into the Budgam election as a divided house, with his government's performance facing criticism from senior leader and Lok Sabha member from Srinagar Syed Aga Ruhullah.

The Srinagar parliamentarian stayed away from the party’s election campaign in Budgam, citing alleged failure of the Abdullah government to deliver on the promises made by the party in its election manifesto before the 2024 elections.

Ruhullah has been backed by another senior National Confernce leader and Lok Sabha parliamentarian Mian Altaf Larvi.

The charges against the Abdullah government echoed widely during the election campaign in Budgam.

The fate of 17 candidates, including from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Conference, Awami Ittehad Party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and independents was sealed in ballot boxes on Tuesday.

Independent candidate

Political analysts believe that the election would be a direct contest between the National Conference’s Mehmood, a two-time lawmaker, and the PDP’s Aga Syed Muntazir, who has managed to pull massive crowds in the run up to the polls.

In the 2024 assembly elections, Abdullah defeated Muntazir by a 18,359-vote margin, bagging 35,804 votes and overcoming this margin of loss is being considered an uphill yet – given the anger against the ruling party – not impossible task for the PDP candidate.

The issue of alleged betrayal by the elected government seems to have resonated among some voters who had come to exercise their franchise at a government-run girls school in Budgam main town on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking with The Wire outside the school after voting, Hameeda Bano, a resident of Budgam and mother of three unemployed young men, said that she had voted for Abdullah in the 2024 assembly election but changed her mind this time.

“We continue to consume water from a stream polluted by carcasses of animals and soiled diapers. Our people voted for him [Abdullah] with the hope that he would resolve the drinking water problems and high power bills but he didn’t even visit us in the past year,” she said.

At the Shia-dominated Ichgam village, Haji Imdad Hussain walked out of the polling booth housed in a government-run school with a broad smile on his face. Hussain said that he had voted for the PDP candidate due to the ruling party’s “betrayal” over the last year.

“I voted for the National Conference in 2024 with the hope that we will get better roads and free power. But none of the promises were fulfilled. I am hopeful that the PDP candidate will turn out to be a better choice,” Hussain said.

The central Kashmir constituency has a significant Shia vote bank which is likely to split between Mehmood, Muntazir and the BJP candidate Syed Aga Mohsin.

Despite a series of off-the-cuff comments directed by Abdullah and Ruhullah at each other in the run up to the election, the National Conference is hopeful of retaining its traditional vote bank in the constituency.

Muntazir, a Mustafai Shia, is likely to benefit from the political differences simmering within the National Conference with some political groups including the Peoples Conference reported to be tacitly supporting him in an unlikely front with the PDP against Abdullah.

It is widely believed that the number of votes polled by independent candidate Jibran Dar who has attracted massive crowds, AIP candidate Nazir Ahmad Khan and other independents and smaller parties could end up making or breaking the fortunes of Muntazir and Mehmood.

The central Kashmir constituency, a bastion of the ruling party, comprises around 1.26 registered electors who voted at 173 polling booths on Tuesday.

The National Conference has won without a break from the constituency since 1962, except in 1972, when it was won by a Congress candidate.

Security was beefed up in the district to prevent any law and order problem.

Nagrota

The by-election also concluded in the Nagrota assembly constituency of Jammu region, which was vacant following the demise of the incumbent lawmaker and senior Bhartiya Janta Party leader Devendra Rana.

According to the Election Commission of India, over 72% registered voters exercised their franchise on Tuesday in the constituency.

Analysts believe that the Nagrota by-election would be a triangular contest between Rana’s daughter Devyani Rana who is facing the National Conference’s Shamim Begum and J&K National Panthers Party president Harsh Dev Singh.

In the 2024 elections, Rana, a former National Conference member, polled 48,113 votes, while his nearest rival from the National Conference Joginder Singh came a distant second with 17,641 votes.

This article was first published at 10:56am on November 11, 2025, and has been updated with fresh developments.

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