Former Chief Minister and vice-president of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Omar Abdullah has registered victory from both the Budgam and Ganderbal Assembly constituencies.
In the Budgam seat, Omar defeated the People’s Democratic Party’s Aga Syed Muntazir by a margin of 18,485 votes. Omar bagged 36,010 votes while Muntazir secured 17,525 votes. Muntazir is the son of influential Shia leader Aga Syed Hassan.
In the 2014 Assembly elections, NC leader Aga Ruhullah Mehdi had won the seat by a margin of 2,787 votes.
From the Ganderbal Assembly constituency seat, Omar defeated PDP’s Bashir Ahmad Mir.
The Ganderbal constituency is the family bastion of Omar, which has sent three generations of the Abdullahs to the Assembly.
However, in 2002, Omar was defeated by PDP leader Qazi Mohammad Afzal at Ganderbal. In 2008, Omar again won the seat. However, in 2014 he moved to central Kashmir’s Beerwah constituency leaving the seat for Sheikh Ishfaq, another NC leader.