Know about Omar Abdullah, set to become Union Territory of J&K's first CM

With the National Conference (NC)-Congress alliance set to sweep the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, NC vice president Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister, his father and NC chief Farooq Abdullah declared on Tuesday (October 8).

As per the latest trends from the Election Commission, NC has won 13 seats and is leading in 28.

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What Farooq said

Omar will become the first Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was made into a Union Territory.

Assembly elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir this year after a gap of 10 years.

Also read: J&K | BJP should not fiddle with people's mandate: Omar Abdullah

"Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister," the senior Abdullah told reporters when asked who would be the alliance's chief minister face.

The NC president also said the verdict was proof that the people of J-K were against the abrogation of Article 370.

"The people have given their verdict and proven that the decisions taken on August 5, 2019 are not acceptable to them," he said. "I am thankful to everyone that the people participated in the polls and did so freely. I am grateful to God for the results." The former Union minister said the elected government would have do a lot of work to end the "sufferings" of the people.

"We have to end unemployment and address issues like inflation and drug menace. Now, there will be no LG and his advisors. Now, there will be 90 MLAs who will work for people," he said.

Omar wins from Budgam

Omar won the Budgam Assembly seat, defeating the PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi by a margin of more than 18,000 votes. Omar, who is also leading from the family bastion of Ganderbal, secured 36,010 votes in Budgam, while Mehdi got 17,525 votes.

The NC vice president had contested the 2014 elections also from two seats, Sonwar in Srinagar and Beerwah in Budgam district. He had won the Beerwah seat.

Abdullah had lost the 2024 Parliamentary polls from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in north Kashmir.

He was defeated by independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid who was then lodged in the Tihar Jail under terror-funding charges. Rashid is currently out on bail.

Omar's previous term as CM

In the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar had served as the chief minister from 2009 to 2015. At the time, 38-year-old Omar was the 11th and the youngest Chief Minister of J-K. He was also a Lok Sabha MP two times, entering the Parliament for the first time in 1998.

He had also served as the Union Minister of State for External Affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, from 2001 to 2002.