Jammu, May 23 (KNN) Going by the initial counting trends in the Lok Sabha Election 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a lead in Jammu & Kashmir.

In the six parliamentary constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir, the initial counting trends reveals that BJP is leading in the two seats of Jammu and Udhampur while as National Conference is leading in Srinagar parliamentary constituency.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has a lead of over 40000 votes in Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.

Talking to KNN India, Lalit Mahajan, President, Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA) said, “Whatever development that has happened in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) has happened because of Modi government and people have for voted him because of this reason only.”

Mahajan said, “Not only he has contributed in the growth & development of state but has also maintained law and order in Srinagar. All credit goes to Governor Satya Pal Malik and the Central Government.Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma, both the leaders in the state have also played a major role in growth and development in their respective areas.”

Mahajan, representing the voice of MSMEs in Jammu region, said, “Good times will soon come in state with the formation of government by BJP at both Centre and State level. As he comes to power, we will request him to develop industries in the state as industry is the backbone of employment. Without industries there will be no employment.”

Meanwhile, the traders of Kashmir have a different view. Acting President of Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF) Bashir Ahmed told KNN India, “As far as Kashmir traders and manufacturers are concerned, Goods & Services Tax (GST) has completely destroyed the trade. Due to GST, trade has been depressed not only in Kashmir but in all over India. In all the states, business is down due to GST.”

During Roza’s people in Kashmir use Khajoor while opening their fast and plethora of taxes are being charged on such food items which is unaffordable for low and middle income group people, Ahmed said.

The KTMF chief said we accept whichever government the public will choose but the only thing that we want from the new government is to reduce the burden on traders.

J&K voted in the first four phases of Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on April 11, 18, 23, 29 and May 6. There are six seats in the state with prime parties being Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, BJP, Congress and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference.

The six Jammu and Kashmir seats are: Jammu, Baramulla, Srinagar, Udhampur, Anantnag and Ladakh.

In Anantnag constituency, the contest is between National Conference leader Hasnain Masoodi and Congress state president Ghulam Ahmad Mir.

In northern Kashmir, Engineer Rashid of Awami Itehad Party was leading by around 4000 votes against Muhammad Akbar Lone of National Conference. In Ladakh, independent candidate Sajad Hussain with around 9768 votes is leading followed by another independent candidate Asgar Ali Karbalai with around 6758 votes. (KNN Bureau)