'Big achievement for AAP': Gopal Rai on AAP's maiden victory in J&K's Doda

New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) As the AAP secured its maiden victory in the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Assembly elections, Delhi's Environment Minister, Gopal Rai on Tuesday, congratulated the party candidate Mehraj Malik and said it is a big achievement for the party.

Talking to IANS, Gopal Rai said, "I want to congratulate the people as it is a big thing for us. AAP became a national party after winning in Delhi, Punjab, Goa, and Gujarat. Now, after winning in the J&K, we will have our presence in five states and Union Territory. I consider it a positive result for the AAP in such difficult circumstances. This is surely an expansion of the AAP."

He further showed hope for good results in Haryana in the next elections as the AAP has not won a single seat in the state.

"AAP has fought the election very well in the state. The workers of AAP have tried their best but didn't get what we expected. We will try to correct our shortcomings in the future so that we can make our presence in the state as well," he added.

Notably, the AAP's Mehraj Malik won the Doda seat in the Jammu region, defeating his nearest rival, Gajay Singh Rana of the BJP, by a margin of 4,470 votes.

While Malik had secured 22,944 votes, Rana was in second place with 18,174 votes, and Khalid Najib Suhrawardy of the National Conference was third with 12,975 votes.

The rest of the candidates, including Abdul Majid Wani of Ghulam Nabi Azad's Democratic Progressive Azad Party, did not even reach the five-figure mark. Congress candidate Sheikh Riaz Ahmed was lagging way back with just 4,087 votes.

The AAP has wrested the seat from the BJP, who had won the Muslim-majority seat in the 2014 polls, with Shakti Raj Parihar defeating sitting MLA Wani, then in the Congress, by a margin of 4,040 votes. The National Conference was in third place then also.

Malik, who joined the AAP in 2013, is an elected District Development Council (DDC) Councilor from the Kahara constituency.

Party chief Arvind Kejriwal welcomed his party candidate's victory "I congratulate AAP's Doda candidate Mehraj Malik for his grand victory by defeating the BJP candidate. You fought a great election," he said in a post in Hindi on X.