Shagun Parihar, 'living example of BJP's resolve to finish terrorism' in J&K, wins contest

Jammu: BJP's Shagun Parihar, whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the "living example of the BJP's resolve to finish terrorism" in Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday won the Kishtwar seat.

Parihar, securing 29,053 votes, defeated her nearest rival and two-time MLA Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo of the National Conference, who secured 28,532 votes, by a razor-thin margin of 521 votes.

Firdous Ahmed Tak from the People's Democratic Party was a poor third, with just 997 votes. A total of 615 people voted 'None of the Above' (NOTA).

Shagun Parihar's father Ajit Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar, who was a district BJP leader, were shot dead by terrorists in November 2018.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing his first rally for the J&K Assembly elections in Doda district on September 14, had cited her tragic background while asking people to vote for her to help defeat terrorism.

"Our daughter, (BJP's Doda candidate) Shagun Parihar’s father and uncle were killed by terrorists. We have fielded her here. She is not just our candidate, but she is the living example of the BJP's resolve to finish terrorism," PM Modi had asserted.

The seat, which went to vote in the first of the three-phase Assembly elections on September 18, has been retained by the BJP, whose Sunil Kumar Sharma had won in 2014.

The BJP was otherwise lagging in J&K, likely to end up with 29 seats in the 90-member Assembly, as it had won 20 seats and was leading in nine others. The National Conference was inching close to the halfway mark on its own having won 30 seats and leading in 11 others, while its ally Congress had won five and was leading in one more, and the Communist Party of India-Marxist was leading in the sole seat it contested.