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Nearly 90 per cent of the candidates contesting for the five seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha elections have lost their security deposits after  failing to secure one-sixth of the votes in their respective constituencies, Election Commission data has revealed.

Candidates from the smaller parties like the Apni Party, JK People’s Conference and Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) failed to make a decisive impact. 

DPAP candidates collectively managed to secure only 12.79 per cent vote share in all five seats. Their dismal performance in the elections was mainly attributed to their covert allegiance to BJP. 

Among the 100 candidates in the fray, 89 lost their security deposits. Sheikh ‘Engineer’ Abdul Rashid, an Independent candidate who defeated former CM Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone in the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, was the only winner who secured less than 50 per cent of the total votes, with a vote share of 45.70 per cent.

Meanwhile, Baramulla was the only constituency where the candidate placed third, Sajad Gani Lone, managed to save his security deposit by polling 16.76 per cent votes, barely above the 16.34 per cent threshold.

While, NC candidate Aga Ruhullah Mehdi received the highest vote percentage at 52.85 per cent,  BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma, who won his third consecutive term from Jammu, garnered 52.80 per cent of the votes.

BJP leader and Union Minister Jitendra Singh, also winning a third consecutive term, secured 51.28 per cent of the votes in Udhampur. NC’s Mian Altaf Ahmad, who defeated former CM Mehbooba Mufti in Anantnag, secured 50.85 per cent.

Ghulam Nabi Azad’s DPAP faced a significant defeat, with all three of its candidates losing their security deposits, not securing even 4 per cent of the votes. 
Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, contesting from Udhampur, secured 3.56 per cent, Mohammad Saleem Parray got 2.49 per cent in Anantnag-Rajouri, and Aamir Bhat secured 2.24 per cent in Srinagar.

Among the seven women candidates across the five constituencies, only PDP president Mehbooba Mufti managed to save her security deposit.