Defeated in assembly polls they made it to parliament

Jammu, May 17 (IANS) Three of the six newly elected MPs from Jammu and Kashmir had lost the assembly polls last year.

National Conference leader Mehboob Beg who won south Kashmir constituency Anantnag had lost to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed at Anantnag in the November-December assembly elections.

Similarly, National Conference's Sharief Ud Din Shariq, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from north Kashmir Baramulla constituency, had lost Langate assembly segment to a lesser known independent Abdur Rashid.

Shariq recorded the highest winning margin of 64,000 in the Kashmir Valley, more than double that of National Conference president Farooq Abdullah who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Srinagar.

In Jammu region, Lal Singh, elected from Udhampur parliamentary constituency, had lost the assembly election from Kathua to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.

Unlike the three newly elected MPs, Abdullah had won two assembly seats - Sonwar and Hazratbal - in the 2008 polls. He resigned from both the seats after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha earlier this year.

This would be Abdullah's second stint in the Lok Sabha. In 1980, he was elected unopposed.