“I think it’s time to accept the inevitable. Congratulations to Engineer Rashid for his victory in North Kashmir..,” tweeted JKNC vice-president and Baramulla Lok Sabha candidate Omar Abdullah. Rashid, 57, who is in Tihar jail for five years, contested the election as an independent candidate.
Abdul Rashid Sheikh, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has defeated former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by over one lakh votes in Baramulla seat as counting continues for Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Abdullah, the National Conference leader, conceded the defeat even as the official results were yet to be announced.
“I think it’s time to accept the inevitable. Congratulations to Engineer Rashid for his victory in North Kashmir..,” tweets JKNC vice-president and Baramulla Lok Sabha candidate Omar Abdullah
I think it’s time to accept the inevitable. Congratulations to Engineer Rashid for his victory in North Kashmir. I don’t believe his victory will hasten his release from prison nor will the people of North Kashmir get the representation they have a right to but the voters have…
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah)Engineer Rashid, 57, is a former two-time MLA from Langate seat in north Kashmir. Before joining mainstream politics, he was a close aide of slain Hurriyat leader and JKPC founder Abdul Gani Lone, father of Sajad Lone.
He ran as an independent candidate in the election. Due to his imprisonment, his two sons spearheaded their father's campaign two weeks before to the fifth phase of voting in Baramulla on May 20.
Baramulla is one of the three seats in the Kashmir division, other than Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajouri, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had not fielded any candidates.