New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS): Even as the BJP improved its tally in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, its UT chief Ravinder Raina lost the Nowhsera Assembly constituency.

National Conference's Surinder Kumar Choudhary won the seat with a margin of 7,819 votes as per the Election Commission of India (ECI) data.

Raina secured 27,250 votes while Choudhary bagged 35,069 votes.

The firebrand BJP leader was seeking to retain his stronghold in the 2024 elections with an even bigger vote share. In 2014, Raina won the seat by defeating Choudhary by a margin of 9,503 votes. Raina had secured 37,374 votes polling a 49.51 per cent vote share.

The BJP has won 20 seats and was leading in 9 others, the ECI latest data said.

The BJP had put up 43 candidates in Jammu and 13 in Kashmir. The party has improved its tally from the 2014 Assembly elections when it won 25 seats.

It was expecting to get more seats after taking the historical step of abrogation of Article 370 and giving due to the marginalised communities.

Despite the NC getting the highest number of seats, the maximum vote share has been grabbed by the BJP as shown in the ECI data.

The BJP has a voter share percentage of 25.64, making it the top party. The National Conference (NC) follows with 23.47 per cent and the Congress is a distant third with an 11.93 per cent vote share.

In the 90-member Assembly seats, the NC is in alliance with the Congress and contested these elections against the BJP.

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) chose to contest independently and was leading in only four seats.

Earlier, in the day, the UT BJP chief had expressed confidence about the BJP winning 30-35 seats.

Nowshera is constituency number 84 of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and falls in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency. The PDP, BJP and NC were the main parties in the constituency. The constituency went to the polls in the second phase on September 25, along with the other 25 constituencies of the UT, including Reasi and Rajouri.