Budgam, Nov 11: The patience of voters was tested on Tuesday as the Budgam Assembly segment went for polling once again for the second time in the span of 13 months, with many voters describing the by-elections as ‘unfortunate’.
The majority of voters who had turned out at the polling stations today told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO)—that the people across Budgam had voted last year with the aim of getting an elected representative to listen to them.
“However, it is unfortunate that we have been kept without any representation for the last one year, and now again, we have been forced to come out to vote. The people here have been waiting for a year to get even the basic issues resolved,” Ali Muhammad, a voter in Budgam, said.
Another voter from Nasrullah Pora said that voting for the second time in just one year feels like a punishment to them. “We feel betrayed despite voting with dedication and full of hope last year,” he said.
“We cast our ballots last year with the hope that our representative from the constituency would also serve as the Chief Minister and that we would get some benefits. But all our hopes were shattered when Omar Abdullah decided to retain the Ganderbal seat,” Ashfaq Hussain, a voter, said.
“As we turn up at the polling stations again, we hope our choice this time will bring benefits to this constituency,” he added.
The by-election for the Budgam Assembly Constituency was held today, with 17 candidates in the electoral fray. The seat fell vacant after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had won from two seats in the 2024 assembly elections, retained the Ganderbal seat.
Omar Abdullah had received 35,804 votes, against 17,445 votes for PDP candidate Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi, out of a total of 1.25 lakh votes. (KNO)
