The National Conference on Wednesday bagged 41 of the 68 seats in the Srinagar [Images] civic polls.

The ruling People's Democratic Party got 17 seats, while the coalition partner Congress managed to get only six.

Independents, who had a good outing in the first phase last month, also fared poorly with just four seats.

The victory is a major morale-booster for the NC, which had even contemplated pulling out of the elections.

The party was demoralised following several debacles since the first electoral loss in the assembly polls of 2002.

The party had been routed in the first phase held in Baramulla and Kupwara districts, where it managed to win only 19 of the 138 wards.

Although the PDP-Congress combine polled more votes than the NC, the ruling coalition got 23 seats, while the opposition party got the bulk of the seats.

The coalition partners got around 38,000 of the 83,000 votes polled, while NC had a share of only under 32,000.

The NC had earlier accused the ruling coalition government headed by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of rigging and electoral malpractices. "The results has set all allegations at rest," Mufti said.

With Inputs from PTI

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