“Omar Abdullah Announces Candidacy for 2024 Lok Sabha Elections from Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir”

The Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, spanning across 18 assembly segments, emerges as a closely observed contest due to shifting electoral dynamics post-delimitation.

Srinagar: The National Conference announced today that former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will run for elections from the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency.

Party president Farooq Abdullah, while addressing reporters here, disclosed that influential Shia leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi will run for the Srinagar constituency in central Kashmir, traditionally a stronghold of the National Conference.

Following the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganization of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, Omar Abdullah, the Vice President of the National Congress, stated that he would refrain from contesting assembly elections until the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir was reinstated.

The Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency, encompassing 18 assembly segments, is poised to be closely observed due to shifting electoral dynamics following delimitation.

The constituency spans four districts: Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, and sections of Budgam. It is anticipated to witness a significant contest primarily between the National Conference and Peoples Conference leader Sajad Gani Lone, a former separatist now in mainstream politics.

Mr. Abdullah is expected to rely heavily on Shia support, given that the constituency includes several areas with a Shia majority, such as Budgam, Beerwah, Pattan, Sonawari, and Bandipora, among others.

In the delimitation process initiated after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency underwent redrawn boundaries. This included the addition of two assembly seats from Budgam district – Budgam and Beerwah – both with a Shia majority, along with one new assembly segment each in Baramulla and Kupwara.

Prior to delimitation, the constituency had been a stronghold of the National Conference, which secured the seat ten times since 1957. The Congress emerged victorious four times, while the PDP won once.

During the last general elections in 2019, National Conference candidate Mohammad Akbar Lone won with 133,426 votes, surpassing his closest competitor Raja Aijaz Ali of the Peoples Conference, who received 103,193 votes.

Independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid secured the third position with 102,168 votes, while the PDP candidate Abdul Qayoom Wani obtained 53,530 votes, placing fourth.

Mr. Rashid, who participated in the previous elections but is currently detained by the NIA on charges related to terror funding, wields influence in the Langate assembly segment of the constituency, which he represented twice in the former Jammu and Kashmir legislature.

His party, the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), has declared that it will nominate Rashid, presently detained in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail, as its candidate for the Lok Sabha elections.

In the previous elections, the PDP, which secured a distant fourth position, has nominated former Rajya Sabha MP Fayaz Mir. This marks Omar Abdullah’s first participation in the Lok Sabha polls since 2009.

At the age of 28, he became the youngest member of the Lok Sabha after winning the elections from Srinagar in 1998. He was re-elected to the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 and subsequently took oath as Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry on October 13, 1999.

On July 22, 2001, he assumed the role of Union Minister of State for External Affairs.

Nevertheless, Omar Abdullah stepped down from the position on December 23, 2002, in order to focus on party responsibilities.

Leading up to the 2002 legislative assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah was selected to lead the NC, while Farooq Abdullah transitioned to a central role. However, Omar Abdullah faced defeat in the assembly polls from the Ganderbal constituency.

Farooq Abdullah was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir in 2002, and subsequently re-elected in 2009. Meanwhile, Omar Abdullah successfully contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from the Srinagar constituency in 2004.

During the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008, Omar Abdullah delivered a passionate speech in Parliament that garnered praise from numerous quarters.

Subsequently, Omar Abdullah assumed the position of Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir when his party formed an alliance with the Congress following the assembly elections in January 2009.

In 2009, his father stepped down from the Rajya Sabha and secured a seat in the Lok Sabha representing Srinagar.

In the 2014 elections, when the senior Abdullah ran for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat once more, he faced defeat against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Tariq Hameed Karra.

Nonetheless, Karra’s resignation from the Lok Sabha in 2017 prompted a by-election for the Srinagar parliamentary seat, which Farooq Abdullah won, defeating the PDP candidate Nazir Ahmed Khan. The NC president secured victory in the Lok Sabha elections once more in 2019.

Omar Abdullah emerged victorious in the 2008 assembly elections from the Ganderbal constituency. In the 2014 assembly elections, he successfully contested and won from the Beerwah segment in Budgam, which is currently included in the Baramulla Parliamentary constituency.

Following the delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir in 2022, the reconfigured Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency now encompasses the districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, Budgam, and portions of Pulwama and Shopian, comprising a total of 19 assembly segments.

Regarded as the party’s bastion, the Srinagar seat has been secured by the NC in 12 out of 15 elections or by-polls since 1967. The Congress, the PDP, and an independent candidate have each claimed victory from the constituency once.

The party has already nominated senior Gujjar leader Mian Altaf as its candidate for the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat.

As part of the opposition’s INDIA-bloc, the party is vying for three seats in the Kashmir valley, while it has delegated two seats in Jammu and one seat in Ladakh to its ally, the Congress.

Voting in Srinagar is scheduled for May 13, while in Baramulla, it will take place on May 20.