Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday declared that Omar Abdullah will be appointed as chief minister after the party, in alliance with Congress, was able to achieve a comfortable majority in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election.
While briefing the media outside his house, Farooq Abdullah said, “People have given their mandate; they have proven that they don’t accept the decision that was taken on August 5…Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister.”
Meanwhile, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah secured victory with over 16,000 votes against PDP candidate Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam seat.
Abdullah is also leading from the family bastion of Ganderbal by a margin of over 5,000 votes over PDP candidate Bashir Ahmad Mir.
According to the Election Commission, the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference and the BJP have won two seats each so far, while the JKN is leading with 43 seats and the BJP is trailing with 28 seats. The Congress is leading in six seats.
Meanwhile, this marks the first election since the abrogation of Article 370, which stripped the region of its special status and transformed it into a Union Territory. Following the recent delimitation, the assembly now consists of 90 seats, with the Jammu region having a slightly larger representation than the Kashmir Valley. The Congress and National Conference (NC) formed an alliance to contest the elections against the BJP, while the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), based in the valley, chose to run independently.
