SRINAGAR: Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi was sworn in on Friday as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Budgam, formally taking his seat in the Jammu Kashmir Assembly as a representative of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Mehdi’s induction follows his victory in the Budgam byelection, where he defeated the National Conference (NC) candidate, Aga Syed Mehmood Al-Mosavi, by a margin of 4,478 votes. Mehdi secured 21,576 votes, while his NC rival polled 17,098.
The byelection was necessitated after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the Budgam seat, opting to retain Ganderbal—his family stronghold—after winning from both constituencies in last year’s assembly elections.
Seventeen candidates contested the November 11 bypoll, including BJP’s Syed Mohsin, Awami Ittehad Party’s Nazir Ahmad Khan, Aam Aadmi Party’s Deeba Khan, and Independent candidate Muntazir Mohiuddin. The constituency, which has around 1.26 lakh registered voters, recorded a turnout of 50.02 pervent.
