NC trails but Azad leads in J&K

Mufti was leading over her nearest rival and sitting National Conference MP by over 18,359 votes

Election trends in Jammu and Kashmir have come as a setback for ruling National Conference which was trailing in all the three Lok Sabha seats including Srinagar which party President Farooq Abdullah contested.

Abdullah was trailing his nearest PDP rival Tariq Hameed Karra by over 13,547 votes. Abdullah, who has never lost any elections from the state, had polled 31,579 votes where as Karra polled 46,386 votes.

PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, who tested electoral waters after a break in 2009 polls, was leading over her nearest rival and sitting National Conference MP by over 18,359 votes.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted "I imagined a worst case scenario but early trends are worse than that. Let's hope this trend reverses as the count progresses."

The only saving grace so far for the ruling alliance of National Conference and Congress was Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad who continued to improve his lead over BJP's Jitendra Singh.

While Azad had polled 1,95,605 votes, Singh was trailing at 1,69,422 votes.

BJP candidate from Jammu, Juggal Kishore, had taken a lead of 1.08 lakh votes over his nearest rival and sitting Congress MP Madan Lal Sharma.

In Baramulla Parliamentary seat, Muzzafar Hussain Baig of PDP was ahead of his National Conference candidate Shariq-ud-din Shariq.

Baig has polled 30,460 where as Shariq has got 27,729 votes.

In Ladakh Lok Sabha seat, Independent candidate Syed Mohammed Kazim had taken a lead of 333 votes over another independent candidate Ghulam Raza. BJP and Congress were in the third and fourth position.