PDP’s Iltija Mufti concedes defeat: I accept people’s verdict

Iltija Mufti, daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate from the Srigufwara-Bijbehara constituency, conceded defeat on Tuesday. She was trailing after halfway counting in the constituency.
Iltija Mufti said she accepts the people’s verdict and thanked the party workers.
“I accept the verdict of the people. The love & affection I received from everyone in Bijbehara will always stay with me. Gratitude to my PDP workers who worked so hard throughout this campaign,” she tweeted.
Bashir Ahmad Shah Veeri of the National Conference was leading in the constituency, ahead of Mufti. BJP’s Sofi Yousif was in third place.
PDP’s Abdul Rehman Bhat has been repenting for nearly two decades, from 1999 to 2019. Before that, Mehbooba Mufti won the seat as a Congress candidate.
Bijbehara, which is seen as a traditional family seat of the Mufti family, comes under the Anantnag–Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency, where Mehbooba Mufti was defeated in the Lok Sabha election. National Conference’s Mian Altaf won the seat in the general election.
As per the current counting trend, the National Conference-Congress alliance has 52 seats, while the BJP is leading with 26 seats. The PDP is limited to 3 seats, and others are leading in nine seats at the time of publishing this report.
The elections to choose 90 members for the Legislative Assembly were held in Jammu and Kashmir from September 18 to October 1, 2024, in three phases. This was the first election in 10 years and the first after the Centre abrogated Article 370, scrapping the special status of the erstwhile state and disintegrating it into Union Territories.