CM Omar Abdullah vacates Budgam assembly seat, retains Ganderbal

Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has vacated the Budgam assembly seat and retained the Ganderbal constituency, Pro-tem speaker Mubarak Gul announced in the House on Monday.

Abdullah won both the seats in the recently held assembly polls. The Ganderbal seat is considered an Abdullah family stronghold.

The 54-year-old Abdullah was an MLA from Ganderbal from 2009 to 2014 during his first tenure as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

With this, the strength of the National Conference in the 95-member house has been reduced to 41 but the party still enjoys a comfortable majority with the support of six Congress MLA, five Independents and one MLA each of the AAP and the CPI(M).