Omar Abdullah files nomination for J&K assembly polls from Ganderbal
Omar Abdullah, before filing his nomination papers held a roadshow in Ganderbal which attracted a considerable crowd, will be contesting the assembly election from the seat for the third time
Former chief minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Wednesday filed his nomination papers from central Kashmir’s Ganderbal constituency.
Omar, before filing his nomination papers held a roadshow in Ganderbal which attracted a considerable crowd, will be contesting the assembly election from the seat for the third time.
Soon after filing his papers, Omar told reporters that a number of independent candidates are in the fray at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) behest. “It’s now becoming clear that the BJP wants more and more independent candidates to win from Jammu and Kashmir so they will form a government by taking their support. I don’t think voters will allow this ploy of the BJP to be successful. When results come out, the BJP and the independent candidates will be rejected,” he added.
Omar said that people of Ganderbal have voted for him in the past, “Twice, they have voted for to be elected to the Parliament and once to the assembly. Last time, Ishfaq Jabbar got elected as an assembly member as he was fighting on the NC ticket,” he said, while responding to “outsider” jibes being levelled at him by former legislator Ishfaq Jabbar.
Ishfaq had contested the 2014 assembly polls on an NC ticket and was elected, but he later resigned and floated the Kashmir United Movement.
“If I had contested elections in 2014, Ishfaq could have never won the seat. I left it as I had promised him that he would contest from the seat. Unfortunately he didn’t fulfil his promise and ditched the people of Ganderbal. He has gotten all projects initiated by the NC government before 2014 stalled. We are contesting the elections against him and others so that all the stalled projects will be completed again,” Omar said.
Ganderbal is the home turf of the Abdullah family as members from three generations have been elected from the seat over the past four decades. Omar’s grandfather Sheikh Abdullah won the Ganderbal seat for the first time in 1977. His son, Farooq Abdullah, won the seat thrice in 1983, 1987 and 1996. This will be the third time Omar contests from the assembly segment. He lost the seat in 2002 but won it in 2008 and is now hoping to repeat the performance.
Earlier, Omar had said that he would not contest the assembly elections till statehood was restored but softened his stance after the Election Commission announced the poll dates and decided to contest polls.