On Wednesday, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah went emotional, pleading before the public of Ganderbal, saying, “My turban and my honour are in your hands.”
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah filed his nomination for the coming assembly polls from Ganderbal constituency on Wednesday. Omar was seen removing his skull cap and asking for ‘votes from the public during his speech.
“Today, I will say only one thing – my turban, my honour, and this cap are in your hands,” he said. The crowd, however, reassuringly told him that there was no need to take off the cap.
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Omar, who mostly addresses the public in Urdu, this time made this appeal in Kashmiri, with folded hands. “Give me a chance. I appeal to Ganderbal with folded hands that give me an opportunity and I will serve you and represent you,” he said.
Why is Omar Abdullah running from Ganderbal?
Ganderbal has been considered a fortress of the National Conference, represented by three generations of the Abdullah family. Its founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had won the seat in 1977, while his son Farooq Abdullah won the same seat in 1983, 1987 and 1996. Later, Omar Abdullah was elected as a member from this constituency in 2008.
Sheik Ishfaq Jabbar won the seat in Ganderbal in 2014 for National Conference. Sheik had contested several elections unsuccessfully as a Congress nominee earlier.
Accompanied by senior party leaders and his sons, Abdullah filed his nomination papers at the returning officer stationed at the mini-secretariat.
This is the return of Abdullah to the constituency he had represented as chief minister between 2009 to 2014 when NC-Congress coalition government was in power.
He had won from Beerwah seat in central Kashmir’s Budgam district in the 2014 assembly elections while he lost the then Sonwar seat in Srinagar to then-PDP leader Mohammad Ashraf Mir.
The National Conference and Congress have entered into a seat-sharing arrangement for all 90 assembly seats in the Union Territory.
Under this deal, National Conference will contest 51 seats, Congress 32 and there is a friendly contest on five seats. Two seats are left for allies- CPI(M) and National Panthers Party.