National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah filed his nomination papers for the Ganderbal assembly seat on Wednesday. Abdullah, joined by senior party leaders and his sons, submitted the documents to the returning officer at the Mini-Secretariat.
He reached the Mini-Secretariat sitting atop a vehicle, surrounded by a huge number of enthusiastic supporters.This marks Omar Abdullah's return to the Ganderbal constituency, which he represented from 2009 to 2014 during his tenure as Chief Minister of the NC-Congress coalition government in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the 2014 assembly elections, Abdullah won from the Beerwah seat in central Kashmir's Budgam district. He also contested from the Sonwar seat in Srinagar but was defeated by then PDP leader Mohammad Ashraf Mir.
Following the Centre's revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status and its reorganization into two union territories in August 2019, Omar Abdullah had pledged not to contest a seat in the legislature of a union territory.
However, he recently said it would send out a "wrong signal" when he asks his party colleagues to contest and the people to cast their votes for an assembly "that I may be suggesting that I look down upon". "I am conscious of one thing which I had not thought over fully, which is my mistake. If I was not ready to contest an election for an assembly, how can I get the people ready to vote for that assembly?
Polling for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is scheduled to take place on September 18, September 25, and October 1.