Omar Abdullah: Desperately Seeking A Win (image: facebook.com/Omar Abdullah)

Two weeks ago, after filing nomination papers for the Ganderbal Assembly seat, Omar Abdullah, National Conference (NC) vice president, made an emotional appeal to voters and requested “one chance to represent them.”

He lowered his skullcap and said, “My cap, my turban, and my honour are in your hands.” Unlike his usual leadership style the people of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed, the emotional fervent tone is new and underlines a much-needed win NC leader requires in the current political climate in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Omar Abdullah is contesting from two assembly segments: Ganderbal and Budgam. His dual constituency move has received criticism from opponents, citing his lack of confidence. Ganderbal is traditionally a NC bastion. Explaining his contest from the second constituency, Omar said, “The contest from Budgam shows NC is not weak. It is proof of our power.”

Meanwhile, NC leader was already facing flak for his volte-face regarding his participation in the elections after his previous announcements that he would refrain until full statehood was restored to Jammu and Kashmir.

In early August, Omar, in an interview with Indian Express, detailed why he is choosing not to contest elections this time. “I have made it very clear. I have been the CM of a state. I can’t see myself in a position where I would have to ask the LG for appointing my peon. It’s as simple as that… I am not going to sit outside the waiting room of the L-G and, ask him, ‘Sir, please sign the file’,” he said.

However, with mounting pressures from the party, Omar had to reassess his decision. Admittedly, he later said, “Staying out of the elections was a mistake. Seeking votes from the people while not being a candidate myself seemed contradictory,” the Times of India reports, as Omar is saying.

Omar, son of Farooq Abdullah and grandson of the late Sheikh Abdullah, became the youngest Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir when the government was formed in coalition with Congress in January 2009. He has also served as the Minister of State for External Affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2001.

Omar entered politics through the 1998 Lok Sabha election. In the maiden polls, he got elected from Srinagar parliamentary constituency by defeating Congress candidate Aga Syed Mohdi by a margin of 70,839 votes. He continued his winning streak in 1999 and 2004 as well. In 1999 polls, he defeated independent candidate Mehbooba Mufti by 36,859 votes, and in 2004, he defeated Advocate Ghulam Nabi Lone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by a margin of 23159 votes.

In 2002, he took over the reigns of the party from his father, Farooq Abdullah, and continued the position till 2009. In the same year, he encountered his first defeat in the Assembly polls from Ganderbal constituency and lost the seat to the PDP’s Qazi Mohammad Afzal by 2,870 votes. However, in the 2008 polls, Omar won from the same seat when he defeated Afzal by 8,215 votes.

In 2014, he contested from two seats—Sonawar and Beerwah—wherein he lost the former but won the latter. Omar secured victory from Beerwah by defeating Congress leader Nazir Ahmad Khan by a margin of just 910 votes, but suffered defeat from PDP candidate Mohammad Ashraf Mir in Sonawar by 4,783 votes. He then became the last leader of opposition in the erstwhile state Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 2015.

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In 2019, Omar Abdullah, his father, and many other political leaders were placed under house arrest following the abrogation of Article 370, and the state got split into two Union Territories. In February 2020, he was charged with the Public Safety Act (PSA) and later revoked the detention orders in late March.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Omar contested from Baramulla constituency but was defeated by independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh by a whopping margin of 2,04,142 votes.

While pursuing two seats, Ganderbal and Budgam, in the Assembly polls, Omar Abdullah is seeking nothing but victory, and the win is crucial for him as a politician, the course of his leadership, and most importantly, NC as a party.