The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has marked its debut in Jammu and Kashmir by winning the Doda District Development Council (DDC) seat, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Gajay Singh Rana. Mehraj Malik, who joined AAP in 2013 and is a DDC councilor from the Kahara constituency, secured a victory by a margin of 4,470 votes. Malik received 22,944 votes, while Rana trailed with 18,174 votes. Khalid Najib Suhrawardy from the National Conference came third with 12,975 votes.
This win is significant as the Doda seat, a Muslim-majority constituency, had been held by the BJP in 2014, when Shakti Raj Parihar won by a narrow margin of 4,040 votes. The result highlights AAP’s growing influence in the region, despite a lackluster performance in the recent Haryana elections, where it failed to make an impact.
AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Malik for his “grand victory,” calling it a remarkable achievement for the party. However, other AAP candidates in J&K did not perform as well, and in Haryana, the party’s prospects remain uncertain.
While the Congress-National Conference coalition is expected to dominate J&K’s political landscape, the BJP appears set for a third consecutive term in Haryana.
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