SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is also working president of ruling National Conference, suffered a major setback as he lost election from one of the two Assembly seats he had contested.
Omar was defeated by PDP’s Mohammad Ashraf Mir from Sonawar constituency in Srinagar. Omar was also trailing from Congress party’s Nazir Ahmad Khan in Beerwah constituency.
Earlier, it was stated that Omar had lost from Beerwah seat also. But there was some confusion as some votes were still to be counted. Omar was won by a margin of 902 votes.
Omar had given up Abdullah family’s traditional Ganderbal seat from Central Kashmir and contested from two seats in J&K assembly elections. Both Sonawar and Beerwah seats were considered safe seats for Omar and Omar had agreed to contest from the seats after lot of discussions within the party .
It was first time since 1977 that no member from Abdullah family contested from Ganderbal seat, considered strong bastion of the party.
Omar had lost his first Assembly election from the state in 2002. He had suffered defeat at the hands of PDP’s novice Qazi Mohammad Afzal in 2002 elections from Ganderbal constituency.
Meanwhile, Senior Congress leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand lost from Chamb constituency in Jammu province to BJP’s Krishan Lal, who got 36033 votes. Tara Chand got 21243 votes.
Tara Chand had been seeking 4th term from the seat after winning elections from the constituency thrice.