A scion of the influential Abdullah clan in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir for the second time on Wednesday. Abdullah, who faced a battle of prestige in the Assembly polls after enduring an embarrassing defeat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, secured impressive victories in Budgam and Ganderbal—the two seats that he contested.

Abdullah, who has been a Lok Sabha member three times -- in 1998, 1999 and 2004 and Chief Minister from 2009 to 2015 -- is known to come back stronger after every electoral defeat, and this has been one of his biggest comebacks.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office and secrecy to Abdullah, who is the third generation of the Abdullah family to occupy the office -- after his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah and father Farooq Abdullah.

Abdullah is also the head of the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, when the erstwhile state was bifurcated into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.