Tue Oct 08 13:11:31 UTC 2024: ## Omar Abdullah Set to Become Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister After National Conference & Congress Victory

**Srinagar, India:** National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah has declared his son, Omar Abdullah, as the next Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, following the party’s decisive victory in the recent assembly elections. The announcement comes after the National Conference, in alliance with the Congress, crossed the halfway mark in the election results.

“People have given their mandate,” Farooq Abdullah told the media, “They have proven that they don’t accept the decision that was taken on August 5 (abrogation of Article 370). Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister.”

The National Conference has currently won 7 constituencies and is leading in 34 seats, while its INDIA bloc ally, the Congress, is leading in 6 seats. This puts the alliance comfortably ahead of the halfway mark of 46 in the 90-member Jammu & Kashmir Assembly.

Omar Abdullah, who contested on two seats – Budgam and Ganderbal, has already won Budgam by a significant margin and is leading in Ganderbal. This victory marks a remarkable comeback for the former Chief Minister, who was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

In a playful tweet, Omar Abdullah mocked the exit polls that had predicted a hung assembly in the Union Territory. “If you pay for exit polls or waste time discussing them, you deserve all the jokes/memes/ridicule. There was a reason I called them a waste of time a few days ago,” he wrote.

The National Conference’s victory is seen as a strong endorsement of its stand against the abrogation of Article 370, a move that stripped Jammu & Kashmir of its special status in 2019. The party’s focus will now be on rebuilding the region and addressing the concerns of the people.

Read More