Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah will contest from the Ganderbal constituency in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
Ganderbal is seen as a stronghold for the National Conference, having elected three generations of the Abdullah family. NC founder Sheikh Mohammad 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.
In 2014, Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar won the Ganderbal seat on a National Conference ticket. Prior to that, he had contested more than two elections unsuccessfully on a Congress ticket.
Upset over the downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory following the abrogation of Article 370, Omar Abdullah had declared on July 27, 2020, that he would not contest assembly elections until full statehood was restored.
Read: Jammu and Kashmir elections: BJP withdraws 1st list of candidates hours after release
However, he softened his stance after the Election Commission of India announced the poll schedule for the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on August 16.
Omar Abdullah's name appeared in the second list of 32 candidates released by the National Conference on Tuesday. Both the National Conference and Congress finalised their seat-sharing agreement for all 90 assembly seats on Monday evening.
{{/usCountry}}Omar Abdullah's name appeared in the second list of 32 candidates released by the National Conference on Tuesday. Both the National Conference and Congress finalised their seat-sharing agreement for all 90 assembly seats on Monday evening.
{{/usCountry}}As per the seat-sharing pact, the National Conference will contest 51 seats and Congress 32, with a friendly contest on five seats. Two additional seats have been reserved for allies, CPI(M) and the National Panthers Party.
The alliance between the two parties was previously announced by Farooq Abdullah after he and his son, Omar Abdullah, met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in Gupkar.
Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the alliance's main objective was to protect the essence of Jammu and Kashmir. “While the BJP is trying to destroy the soul of Jammu and Kashmir, the INDIA bloc aims to preserve it. We will stand united and form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.”