Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah. (File Photo)
After more than 3 decades, Congress has entered into a pre-election accord with the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir. After the agreement, both the parties are working on the distribution of seats. Meanwhile, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah is once again going to contest from the Ganderbal assembly seat. This seat is very special for the Abdullah family as his grandfather contested from this seat and became Chief Minister and his father Farooq Abdullah also won elections from here and reached the threshold of CM.
However, what is noteworthy is that Omar Abdullah, the scion of the prestigious Abdullah family, had once announced that he would not contest the assembly elections under the union territory. But after the alliance with the Congress, he took a U-turn from his old promise. Now he is going to try his luck once again from Ganderbal assembly seat.
Abdullah family has won 5 times in Ganderbal
Ganderbal assembly seat came into existence in the year 1962. So far, out of 10 elections held, the Abdullah family has won the seat 5 times and sworn in as Chief Minister 7 times. Whenever a member of the Abdullah family won from this seat, he managed to become the Chief Minister of that seat. This tradition started in the year 1977 during the assembly elections. Omar’s grandfather Sheikh Abdullah became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir after the assembly elections in July 1977. In this election, Sheikh Ganderbal won from the seat and he managed to reach the power. He was elected as the first MLA.
Earlier, Sheikh Abdullah became a member of the Legislative Council. When he first became Chief Minister in 1975, he was sworn in as an MLC. Here from 1947 to 1965 the head of state was called the Prime Minister, but in 1965 it was changed and now the head is called the Chief Minister.
Son became CM after Sheikh Abdullah
Sheikh Abdullah died on 8 September 1977 and was succeeded as Chief Minister by his son Farooq Abdullah. He also became an MLA from this seat and later rose to the post of Chief Minister. In the 1983 assembly elections, Farooq Abdullah chose his father’s seat and won. The Congress then wanted to contest the elections together with the National Conference, but no agreement could be reached and it had to contest the elections alone. The party won under the leadership of Farooq Abdullah. He won from Ganderbal seat and became the Chief Minister here for the second time.
However, after about 7 months in office, there was a major political upheaval. The then Congress government of Rajiv Gandhi at the Center took advantage of the internal discord in the National Conference and defected many MLAs. Due to this, the Farooq Abdullah government fell into minority and had to resign. Then Farooq Abdullah’s brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah became the chief minister and the Awami National Conference government came into existence. However, this government also did not last long. After imposing first Governor’s and then President’s rule, Farooq Abdullah returned.
Farooq completed his tenure in the 5th attempt
Ganderbal MLA Farooq Abdullah succeeded to become the Chief Minister of the state for the second time in the same i.e. seventh assembly. In the disputed elections of 1987, Farooq Abdullah’s party along with the Congress won and he became the Chief Minister again. This time also he was elected as MLA from Ganderbal. However, during this period, dictatorship began to flourish in the state and Farooq Abdullah’s government was ousted in January 1990. After Governor’s rule and President’s rule were imposed for more than 6 years, re-elections were held in 1996.
In the October 1996 elections, Farooq Abdullah contested from Ganderbal and his party emerged as the single largest party. But it was successful in forming the government. Farooq Abdullah took oath as Chief Minister for the fifth and final time. This time he completed his tenure.
Lost from Ganderbal and then became CM from here
Meanwhile, the second generation of the Abdullah family entered politics. Farooq Abdullah’s son Omar Abdullah contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 at the age of 28 and won. In the year 1999, he was re-elected as an MP and in July 2021, he also became a Union Minister. However, he did not last long in central politics. Resigning in December 2002, he returned to state politics and started looking after party work. On 23 June 2002, he became the President of the National Conference.
However, in the assembly elections held in October-November this year, Omar Abdullah followed the path of his grandfather and father and decided to contest from the Ganderbal seat, but this decision proved wrong and he lost the election. The party also fell out of power. Then in the year 2008, assembly elections were held in the state. The National Conference again emerged as the single largest party and decided to form the government on the strength of the Congress.
Omar Abdullah in the election field for the third time
Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the Chief Minister on 5 January 2009. The special thing is that in the elections held at the end of November-December 2008, he contested and won from Ganderbal itself. Then he managed to reach the Chief Minister’s chair. Like his father, he also completed his first term as Chief Minister.
Omar Abdullah is now going to contest for the third time from Ganderbal seat. His father became Chief Minister 5 times and represented Ganderbal seat each time. Dada also became the Chief Minister after winning the election from this seat. Omar became Chief Minister once and was elected from Ganderbal. Once again Omar has chosen the Ganderbal seat, so it remains to be seen whether National Conference leader Omar, who is contesting the polls along with the Congress, succeeds in making it to the Chief Minister’s post this time.
