Omar Abdullah 'not surprised' by DDC poll results, alleges 'engineered defections'

In a setback to the People Alliance of Gupkar declaration (PAGD), Altaf Bukhari's J&K Apni Party won two District Development Council (DDC) Chairman posts in Shopian and Srinagar in polls held on Saturday. Reacting to it, former J&K CM and National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Sunday said that he is not surprised by the results.

The NC leader alleged the JKAP "engineered defections" post the council elections in December last year to head the DDC councils in Srinagar and Shopian.

"King's party which won only 2 DDC seats in Shopian district, engineered defections post elections and are now heading the DDC Council there. Similarly in Srinagar, the party won just 3 seats and managed to take control of the district. Is ko bolte hai democracy is aisi ki taisi ," NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said.

Apni Party wins 2 out of 3 DDC Chairman posts

Altaf Bukhari's  Apni Party won the elections to the post of chairperson of two of the three District Development Councils (DDCs) in polls held Saturday. The JKAP would be heading the DDCs in Srinagar and Shopian, while the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) won Kulgam. The PAGD alliance had a bit of fallout before the Chairman polls, with no party asking their elected member to vote from its alliance partner.

However, the results for the J&K DDC elections awarded PAGD 110 seats - with its constituents - NC, PDP, JKPC, CPI(M) and JKPM bagging 67, 27, 8, 5, and three seats respectively. After winning 26 seats in the DDC election, Congress too has decided to support the opposition alliance. On the other hand, BJP too made inroads in the Union Territory by becoming the single-largest party with 75 seats. However, the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) could not make a substantive impact gaining only 12 seats. 

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