India: J&K CM Omar Abdullah resigns as Budgam MLA, chooses family stronghold Ganderbal

Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, stepped down from his position as the MLA for the Budgam constituency on Monday, opting to keep his Ganderbal seat, a stronghold of the National Conference (NC), after getting elected from both.

Ganderbal has long been associated with the Abdullah family, with NC founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah representing the area in 1977 and Farooq Abdullah, the current party president, doing so in 1983, 1987, and 1996. Omar Abdullah, now 54, served as the Ganderbal MLA from 2008 to 2014 during his first term as Jammu and Kashmir’s chief minister.

In the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Omar Abdullah secured the Ganderbal seat by defeating Bashir Ahmad Mir of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a margin of over 10,000 votes.

Abdullah achieved victory in the Budgam constituency also, defeating his closest competitor, Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi of the PDP, by 18,485 votes. Despite this win, he chose to resign from Budgam, reducing the National Conference’s numbers in the 95-member assembly to 41. However, the party still maintains a comfortable majority with the support of six Congress MLAs, five Independents, and one member each from AAP and CPI(M).

Earlier in the day, pro-tem speaker Mubarak Gul administered the oath to the newly elected assembly members. According to PTI, Omar Abdullah took his oath in Kashmiri, a language he had been criticised for not using often enough.

Among the 51 first-time members in the assembly is 29-year-old Shagun Parihar from the BJP, who represents Kishtwar and is the youngest member. On the other hand, NC veteran Abdul Rahim Rather, who represents Chrar-e-Sharief, is the oldest at 80.

(With inputs from agencies)