SRINAGAR: The National Conference-led People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration on Thursday bagged the chairperson‘s post in the two district development councils of Kishtwar and Ramban in Jammu, taking its tally to seven after two successive setbacks in Budgam and Baramulla because of cross-voting by its constituents.
NC candidate Puja Devi bagged eight votes to win the race for the chair in Kishtwar. Congress‘s Saima Lone was elected vice-chairperson. In Ramban, NC nominee Shamshad Begum received 11 votes out of 14 to become chairperson of the council while Rabiya Beigh, an Independent candidate, was elected her deputy.
The twin victories in Jammu came a day after three independent council members in Ramban, including former bureaucrat Bashir Rounyal, joined Farooq Abdullah’s NC. The Gupkar alliance had previously won the DDC chairperson’s post in Bandipora, Kulgam, Ganderbal, Pulwama and Anantnag. J&K has 20 DDCs, each of them with 14 members.