Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah won from the Budgam constituency in the Assembly elections on Tuesday, data from the Election Commission showed. Abdullah was also leading in Ganderbal.
In Budgam, Abdullah, the vice president of the National Conference, won against Aga Syed Muntzair Mehdi of the People’s Democratic Party by a margin of more than 18,400 votes.
In Ganderbal, Abdullah was leading by a margin of more than 9,000 votes against People’s Democratic Party candidate Bashir Ahmad Mir in the final round of counting.
National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah said that Omar Abdullah would become the next chief minister of the Union territory, ANI reported.
“After 10 years, the people have given their mandate to us,” he said. “I am hopeful that INDIA alliance partners will fight with us to restore statehood here.”
Follow Scroll’s coverage of the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election result here
As of 1.50 pm, the National Conference had won six seats and was ahead in 35 constituencies, mostly in the Kashmir Valley. Its ally, the Congress, was leading in five seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had won nine seats and was leading in 20 constituencies in the Jammu region.
While the Peoples Democratic Party had won one seat and was ahead in three constituencies, the People’s Conference was leading in one constituency.
The Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir has a strength of 119 members. While elections took place in 90 constituencies, 24 more seats are designated for areas that are in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The lieutenant governor has the power to appoint five members. Therefore, a party or an alliance needs 48 seats for a majority when the House has 95 members.
The Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir took place in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1. A voter turnout of 63.8% was recorded.
Most exit polls on Saturday projected the National Conference-Congress alliance to be ahead of the BJP.
The Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir were the first in 10 years and since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019, which gave special status to the erstwhile state. The Centre had at the time also bifurcated the state into two Union territories: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Also read: Why new J&K government will be stunted – no matter who wins
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