Jammu, Nov 21 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, on Friday, administered the oath to two newly elected MLAs here.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA-elect Devyani Rana and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA-elect Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi were sworn in as members of the 90-member Legislative Assembly by the Speaker at 11 a.m.

Devyani Rana of the BJP defeated her nearest rival, Harsh Dev Singh of the J&K National Panthers Party (JKNPP), by a margin of over 21,000 votes in the Nagrota Assembly constituency bypoll.

Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi of the PDP defeated Aga Syed Mehmood of the ruling National Conference (NC) by a margin of over 4,400 votes in the Budgam Assembly constituency bypoll.

The bypoll became necessary in the Nagrota Assembly constituency following the death of BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana on October 31, 2024. Rana had won the 2024 Assembly election from the Nagrota constituency as a BJP candidate.

BJP had fielded Devender Singh Rana’s daughter Devyani Rana for the Nagrota by-election.

Budgam Assembly constituency became vacant after the chief minister, Omar Abdullah, resigned from the seat. He had won the 2024 Assembly election in two constituencies — Budgam and Ganderbal.

Omar Abdullaah chose to represent Ganderbal in the 90-member Legislative Assembly.

The ruling NC has 41 MLAs, BJP 29, Congress six, PDP four, CPI(M) one, Peoples Conference (PC) one, Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) one, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) one and Independents six, five of whom have joined the NC.

Congress, with six MLAs, is supporting the NC government headed by Omar Abdullah from outside without joining it. The party has decided to continue to support the NC-led government despite the friction between the two parties over the recently held Rajya Sabha seats.

Congress had chosen not to fight the Rajya Sabha elections from J&K after the NC refused to oblige it with a safe seat.

NC won three and BJP one of the four Rajya Sabha seats for which the election was held on October 24.

–IANS

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