Overview
- Polling will be held on 11 November in Budgam and Nagrota, with counting scheduled for 14 November, according to election authorities.
- The National Conference deployed Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, senior ministers and scores of MLAs to campaign for its Budgam nominee, Aga Syed Mehmood Mosavi, before canvassing ended Sunday evening.
- The Budgam race has 17 candidates, with the principal contest between NC’s Aga Mehmood and PDP’s Aga Syed Muntazir, and the sizable Shia electorate—about 30–35% of roughly 1.25 lakh voters—seen as pivotal.
- NC MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, an influential Shia leader and former Budgam MLA, stayed off the campaign and publicly criticized the party, a move acknowledged by NC insiders as a setback.
- Opposition parties pressed accusations of unmet pledges on jobs, free electricity and reservations, while Omar Abdullah countered by invoking Articles 370 and 35A; in Nagrota, BJP’s Devyani Rana faces a competitive field including Panthers India’s Harshdev Singh and NC’s Shamim Begum.