JAMMU: Over 88 per cent of candidates, including a former minister, lost their security deposit for failing to secure a minimum of one-sixth of the total valid votes polled in Udhampur and Jammu Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu, according to election commission data.
Both seats were won by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the third consecutive time.
None of the above (NOTA) option availed by the voters outnumbered most of the candidates in the two constituencies retained by Union Minister Jitendra Singh (Udhampur) and Jugal Kishore Sharma (Jammu) who defeated their Congress rivals and former ministers Choudhary Lal Singh and Raman Bhalla by a margin of 1,24,373 votes and 1,35,498 votes.
The Union minister secured 5,71,076 votes against Lal Singh’s 4,46,703 votes.
Former minister and vice president of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) Ghulam Mohammad Saroori was a distant third and only bagged 39,599 votes.
According to officials, Saroori along with nine other candidates in the fray have forfeited their security deposit for failing to secure the minimum one-sixth of the total valid votes polled in the constituency.
The NOTA option was availed by 12,938 voters in the Udhampur constituency, which went to polls in the first phase on April 19 and registered over 68 per cent voter turnout.
The NOTA votes are the fourth highest as none of the other nine candidates were able to cross the four-digit figures.
The NOTA gives an option to voters to reject all candidates in a constituency.
Bahujan Samaj Party’s Amit Kumar secured only 8,642 votes while Independent candidate Sachin Gupta stood last in the tally by polling only 1,463 votes.
In Jammu where the polling was held on April 26 with over 72 per cent turnout, BJP’s Sharma got 6,87,588 votes against Bhalla’s 5,52,090 votes. BSP’s Jagdish Raj was third with 10,300 votes followed by Independent Satish Poonch (5,959 votes).
The NOTA got 4,645 votes in the constituency, which was higher than the rest of the 18 candidates including Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal chief and lawyer Ankur Sharma who got a total of 4,278 votes.
Qari Zaheer Abbas Bhatti of All India Forward Bloc stood last with only 984 votes.
