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BJP's Devyani Rana wins Nagrota bypoll by 24,647 votes
Will serve people of Nagrota the way my late father Devender Singh Rana did, says Devyani after getting 42,350 votes to defeat Panthers Party's Harsh Dev Singh
As anticipated, BJP’s Devyani Rana, the daughter of late MLA Devender Singh Rana, won the Nagrota assembly byelection by 24,647 votes defeating her nearest rival, Harsh Dev Singh of the Panthers Party India.
Devyani polled 42,350 votes against Harsh Dev’s 17,703 votes.
National Conference candidate and Dansal District Development Council (DDC) member Shamima Begum secured 10,872 votes.
BJP rebel Anil Sharma, who contested as an independent, could muster only 842 votes.
Apni Party candidate Bodh Raj with 392 votes and AAP candidate Joginder Singh with 359 votes put up a dismal show.
Devyani’s father Devender Singh Rana had defeated National Conference candidate Joginder Singh by 30,472 votes in the 2024 assembly elections.
Rana had won the seat in the 2014 assembly elections on the NC ticket.
Soon after results were declared, celebrations broke out at Rana’s house in Jammu’s Gandhi Nagar. Party leaders visited Devyani to congratulate her.
Expressing gratitude to the people of Nagrota for reposing their faith in her, she said: “I’ll serve the people of Nagrota without differentiating between caste, creed, colour, religion and gender. I’ll treat them the way my late father did, like family. My doors will always remain open for them.”
She thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, party general secretary Tarun Chugh, J&K party chief Sat Sharma and other top leaders for giving her the opportunity to contest the bypoll.
On the Bihar verdict, she said: “The BJP fights elections to win.”
On November 11, the Nagrota assembly constituency, a stronghold of the BJP, recorded nearly 75% polling. During last year’s polls, the assembly constituency recorded a 77.66% turnout.
The bypoll was necessitated following the death of Devender Singh Rana on October 31 last year following an illness.
The seat has been claimed by the BJP thrice since 1996, while the NC has won it twice.
