J&K: BJP candidate wins LC biennial polls on the basis of draw of lots

In a keenly-contested biennial election to two Legislative Council seats in Jammu & Kashmir, BJP's Vikram Randhawa and Congress' Thakur Balbir Singh were elected to the Upper House on Monday.

Singh secured 31 votes while Randhawa secured 29 votes and both were declared winners, an official spokesman said. Randhawa was declared winner on the basis of draw of lots, a procedure laid down in the Constitution, as the PDP candidate Abdul Qayoom Dar also secured the equal number of votes (29), he said.

The elections were held at the Legislative Assembly Secretariat under the overall supervision of Chief Electoral Officer, J&K, Shantmanu, for which appropriate arrangements were put in place.

Voting commenced at 9 AM and ended at 4 PM as per schedule. All 89 MLAs (including two nominated) exercised their franchise through open ballot, he said. As many as eight candidates were in the fray for six seats of the Legislative Council, which will fall vacant due to retirement of 6 LC members on April 19.

Of the eight candidates, four namely - Yasir Reshi, GL Raina, Aga Syed Mehmood and Pradeep Sharma - have already made their entry to the Upper House unopposed, he said adding that one candidate Ashok Kumar Bhat had withdrawn his candidature.

There were only three candidates vying for the two seats, which included PDP's Dar (Jammu Province), BJP's Randhawa (Jammu) and NC-Cong joint candidate Singh (Jammu), he added. With the declaration of the results to the two seats on Monday, the election process for six MLC seats that fell vacant has been completed.