The ruling National Conference in J&K on Friday suffered a setback after it lost the Budgam Assembly bypoll to the PDP over a year after the seat was won by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. On the other hand, the BJP was able to retain the Nagrota seat in the Jammu region.

The Budgam bypoll, represented by the NC since 1977, was necessitated after Omar, who had won from both the Budgam and Ganderbal seats in the last elections, chose to retain the latter.

In Nagrota, the bypoll was necessitated after BJP leader Devender Singh Rana, who had won the seat last year, passed away in October. PDP candidate Aga Syed Muntazir secured 21,576 votes and won the Budgam bypoll by a margin of over 4,400 votes. NC candidate Aga Syed Mahmood got 17,098 votes.

This time, the campaigning in Budgam took plac

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