Farooq Abdullah names son Omar as next CM of Jammu and Kashmir

New Delhi: Farooq Abdullah, the venerable leader of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, on Tuesday officially announced that his son, Omar Abdullah, will be the next Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir. 

This announcement comes hot on the heels of what's being described as a historic mandate for the NC-Congress alliance in counting of votes for the assembly elections.

Omar Abdullah, who contested from both Budgam and Ganderbal constituencies, emerged victorious. 

Omar Abdullah won the Budgam assembly seat in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, defeating the PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi by a margin of more than 18,000 votes.

Abdullah, who is also leading from the family bastion of Ganderbal, secured 36,010 votes in Budgam, while Mehdi got 17,525 votes.

The NC vice president had contested the 2014 elections also from two seats, Sonwar in Srinagar and Beerwah in Budgam district. He had won the Beerwah seat.

Abdullah had lost the 2024 Parliamentary polls from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in north Kashmir.

He was defeated by independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid who was then lodged in the Tihar Jail under terror-funding charges. Rashid is currently out on bail.