Farooq Abdullah, Jitendra Singh leading in early trends in J-K

Srinagar: National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, BJP leader Jitendra Singh and Congress state president G A Mir were leading in their respective constituencies in the early trends of counting of votes for Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir Thursday.

According to election officials, Abdullah was leading over PDP candidate Aga Syed Mohsin by a slender margin of 80 votes while Singh had opened a substantial lead of over 4000 votes over his Congress rival Vikramaditya Singh. Former MLA and controversial Kashmiri politician Sheikh Abdul Rashid has taken a surprise lead of nearly 600 votes in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency ahead of PDP's Abdul Qayoom Wani, People's Conference candidate Raja Aijaz Ali and National Conference leader Mohammad Akbar Lone.

In Ladakh, BJP candidate Jamyang Tsering Namgyal was trailing behind Independent candidate Sajad Hussain by 464 votes, according to officials. The BJP had won three seats -- two in Jammu and the Ladakh seat -- in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls while the PDP had swept all three seats in the valley. However, Abdullah had won the Lok Sabha by-poll to Srinagar seat held in 2017.