BJP’s Devyani Rana Wins Nagrota Bypoll; Counting Continues in Budgam

Jammu, Nov 2025 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Devyani Rana on Friday secured a decisive victory in the Nagrota Assembly bypoll in Jammu and Kashmir, defeating her nearest rival, Harsh Dev Singh of the J&K National Panthers Party (JKNPP), by a margin of over 21,000 votes.

Rana’s emphatic win triggered celebrations across BJP offices in Jammu soon after the final results were announced. She is the daughter of late Devender Singh Rana, a veteran politician who had won the Nagrota seat in the 2024 Assembly elections. The bypoll was necessitated following his death on October 31, 2024.

Shamim Begum, the candidate of the ruling National Conference (NC), finished a distant third, securing just over 10,000 votes.

With this victory, the BJP strengthens its presence in the 90-member J&K Legislative Assembly, where it currently holds 29 seats. The NC, which leads the coalition government, remains the largest party with 41 seats. The Congress, which has six MLAs, continues its outside support to the NC-led government without formally joining it.

Meanwhile, counting is still underway in the Budgam Assembly constituency in the Kashmir Valley. After the sixth round of counting, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi was leading by about 2,100 votes over his NC rival, Aga Syed Mehmood.

The Budgam bypoll was held after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah resigned from the seat. Omar had contested and won from both Ganderbal and Budgam in the 2024 Assembly elections, but chose to retain Ganderbal, prompting the need for a fresh election in Budgam.

The political atmosphere in Budgam has been notably tense, especially after NC’s prominent Shia leader and Lok Sabha member, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi—who hails from Budgam—opted to stay away from the party’s campaign due to internal disagreements with the leadership. His absence added an undercurrent of uncertainty to the NC’s prospects in the constituency.

Adding to the evolving political landscape, five of the six Independent MLAs who won in the 2024 Assembly elections subsequently joined the NC, bolstering its numbers in the Assembly.

While the Nagrota result marks a clear gain for the BJP in the Jammu region, the outcome in Budgam remains crucial for the balance of power and influence in the Kashmir Valley. Final results for Budgam are expected later in the day as counting progresses through successive rounds.