J&K’s Ex-CM Omar Abdullah To Fight Elections From Ganderbal

Ahead of J&K’s Assembly election, former CM of Jammu and Kashmir will fight elections from Ganderbal constituency.

This decision marks a shift for Omar Abdullah, who had previously resolved not to participate in elections until Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood was restored.

Additionally, Abdullah’s recent loss in the Lok Sabha elections to the incarcerated Engineer Rashid in the Baramulla district also underscores this change in stance.

Earlier on Tuesday, the National Conference had announced a list of 32 candidates, which included Omar Abdullah for the Ganderbal assembly seat. Abdullah previously held this position from 2009 to 2014 during his tenure as chief minister of the NC-Congress coalition government.

Meanwhile on monday, Omar Abdullah suggested that he might reconsider his stance on not contesting the elections.

But following the announcement of seat sharing arrangement between congress & NC, Abdullah while speaking to the media, expressed concerns about potentially sending a “wrong signal.”

He worried that while his party members would be running in the elections and encouraging voter support, his own absence might appear dismissive of the assembly.

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Political Landscape Of Ganderbal

For those unversed, Ganderbal is considered a stronghold of the National Conference, having been represented by three generations of the Abdullah family.

The founder of the National Conference, Sheikh Abdullah won the seat in 1977, followed by his son Farooq Abdullah, who secured victories in 1983, 1987, and 1996. Omar Abdullah was later elected from the constituency in 2008.

Subsequently in 2014, Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar won the Ganderbal seat on a National Conference ticket. He had previously contested several elections unsuccessfully as a Congress candidate.

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