Who is Mehraj Malik, who opened AAP’s account in Jammu and Kashmir, defeated BJP in Doda
AAP National Convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has congratulated Mehraj Malik for his electoral victory from Doda seat.
Jammu and Kashmir Election Result: The Aam Aadmi Birthday party (AAP) registered its first victory in assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday when its candidate Mehraj Malik defeated his nearest rival from the BJP in Doda constituency by a margin of over Four,538 votes.
Malik, a District Development Council (DDC) member, polled 23,228 votes against BJP’s Gajay Singh Rana’s 18,690 votes, while National Conference leader and former minister Khalid Najib Suharwardy and DPAP leader Abdul Majid Wani got 13,334 and 10,027 votes, respectively.
Congress candidate Sheikh Riaz Ahmad used to be pushed to the fifth place having secured Four,170 votes.
Mehraj Malik had unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections from Udhampur constituency earlier this year.
AAP, which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, had fielded seven candidates out of 90 assembly segments. The Arvind Kejriwal-led birthday party used to be granted national birthday party status in September last year.
Besides having governments in Delhi and Punjab, AAP also has MLAs in Gujarat and Goa Assemblies.
Kejriwal congratulates Malik
Meanwhile, AAP National Convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Mehraj Malik for his electoral victory from Doda seat.
“Many congratulations to Aam Aadmi Birthday party candidate Mehraj Malik from Doda for winning a landslide victory by defeating BJP. You fought an even election. Congratulations to your complete Aam Aadmi Birthday party on turning into MLA in the fifth state,” Kejriwal wrote on X.
Kejriwal also extended congratulations to Malik at some point of a video call, while expressing that “all Aam Aadmi Birthday party workers across the usa are overjoyed that now we have an MLA in a fifth state/Union territory”, the birthday party said.
Malik invited Kejriwal to consult with Kashmir on October 10 and the AAP supremo has accepted the offer. “I'm going to be in the Union Territory on October 10,” he stated.
With its victory in Doda, the Aam Aadmi Birthday party has now established a presence in 5 states including Goa, Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir.
(With inputs from agencies)
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