Polled less than required votes, yet a winner
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Rajouri, January 16
Weird it may sound, but it is true. In the recently concluded elections in the Rajouri Assembly segment, even the winning candidate failed to get the votes required to save his security deposit.

The election to this seat saw many high-profile politicians, including former MPs and ministers, jumping into the fray. It also saw the highest number of rebel candidates of all main political parties trying their luck.

Interestingly, Shabir Ahmed Khan of the Congress won this seat by defeating his nearest rival Master Tassaduq Hussain of the PDP by a narrow margin of 333 votes. While Shabbir Khan got 10,013 votes of the total valid votes of 73,469, Tassaduq Hussain could secure 9,680 votes.

A political analyst said a candidate must secure one-sixth of the total valid votes polled to get back his security which he/she deposits at the time of filing of nomination. “In this case, even the winning candidate had secured 13.63 per cent of the total valid votes and as per the Election Commission of India guidelines the candidate did not secure the adequate number of votes to save his security deposit,” the analyst maintained.

Of the 1,04,783 declared numbers of voters in the Rajouri Assembly segment, 73,469 voters (70.12 per cent) exercised their franchise in the elections held for this segment on November 23, 2008.

Though in the beginning it was seen as a triangular contest between the Congress, PDP and the National Conference (NC), later BJP candidate Vibodh Gupta also joined the fray, seeking to cash in on the religious sentiments shaken by the Amarnath land row.

After the result for this Assembly segment was declared on December 28, it was a tight win for the Congress candidate. As expected, the candidates of main political parties and independent-cum-rebel candidates cut down the vote percentage and the margin of the winning candidate.

Chaudhary Talib Hussain, former MP and NC rebel-turned-Independent candidate, secured 8,763 votes, Vibodh Gupta of the BJP got 8,712, Muhammad Aslam Khan of the NC secured 7,706 votes, Choudhary Qamar (Congress rebel-turned-Independent candidate) got 7,035 votes and Muhammad Sharief Tariq (former minister and PDP rebel-turned-Independent) secured 5,299 votes.

Chief electoral officer BR Sharma said even as the winning candidate failed to get the desired number of votes, there was a provision by which his security deposit was not forfeited.