Double victory for Omar Abdullah

Ganderbal, Oct 8: The decision to field National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah from the twin assembly constituencies of Ganderbal and Budgam proved right for the NC as it resulted in a double victory.

He won from both the seats defeating his nearest rival and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Bashir Ahmed Mir from Ganderbal and PDP’s Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi from Budgam.

With this win, Omar managed to retain his family bastion Ganderbal.

The double victory for Omar is significant as he lost the recent Parliamentary elections in north Kashmir.

Omar for the third time chose to contest from his family bastion Ganderbal and won Ganderbal for the second time.

The Ganderbal constituency is Omar’s family bastion that has sent the three generations of Abdullahs to the Legislative Assembly.

However, in 2002, Omar was defeated by PDP leader Qazi Muhammad Afzal from the Ganderbal seat.

In 2008, Omar won back the seat.

However, in 2014, he moved to central Kashmir’s Beerwah constituency, leaving the seat for Sheikh Ishfaq, another NC leader then.

This time, Omar defeated PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi by a margin of 18,485 votes, securing 36,010 votes against Mehdi’s 17,525.

In his family bastion of Ganderbal, the NC vice president won against PDP’s Bashir Ahmad Mir by a margin of 10,574 seats. Omar bagged 32,727 votes while Mir got 22,153 votes.

As the announcement about Omar’s win was made, hundreds of supporters waiting outside the venue raised pro-Omar and pro-NC slogans and hugged each other to celebrate the victory.

An NC diehard supporter, Bashir Ahmad said, “We hope Omar Sahab will not keep middlemen to run the affairs of Ganderbal constituency but instead give time to address the problems of the people himself.” Another NC loyalist said that Omar would be the chief minister of J&K and expressed hope that he would give special attention to Ganderbal.

Speaking to media persons after his victory, Omar said, “We are thankful to the voters. People have supported us more than our expectations. Now our efforts will be to prove that we are worth these votes and our priority will be to fulfill the expectations of the people.”

He said that those who tried to finish NC for the last five years were decimated today.

Omar said that democracy had prevailed in J&K after a long time.

“People have announced their verdict, but one thing cannot be denied: People have chosen NC. The shortcomings have been filled by our alliance partners,” Omar said.  “Now that I am standing in Ganderbal, I thank every voter of Ganderbal. People worked hard and voted for me. Now I will work hard for the next five years for their welfare.”

On which constituency he will choose to represent after his double victory, Omar said, “We have to call a meeting of the legislative party, elect a leader of the legislative party, sit with the alliance and elect an alliance leader, after which we have to stake our claim to form the government. I will decide in a few days about which seat I will continue to represent.”

He said that the verdict of J&K, especially of Kashmir, Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal region was against the policies of BJP and its allies.

Earlier, in Budgam, Omar thanked the voters for electing him and giving him another chance to serve the people of J&K.

“I am thankful to the voters in Budgam for voting for me, making me successful, and allowing me to serve the people of J&K once again,” he said.

Abdullah said that the verdict had increased the party’s responsibilities.

“It is our duty now to come up to the expectations of the people through our work and that is what our endeavour will be for the next five years,” he said.