NC veteran Farooq Abdullah to lead party in upcoming J&K assembly polls

Senior National Conference (NC) leader and a three-time chief minister of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state, Farooq Abdullah will lead the party in the Union Territory assembly elections scheduled in three phases from September 18.

Farooq, 86, announced his decision after his son Omar Abdullah recently said that he will not take part in elections until the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir statehood.

"I will contest assembly elections but Omar will not. I will step down and Omar will contest from that seat when the statehood is granted to Jammu and Kashmir," Farooq Abdullah told reporters on Aug 16 in Jammu soon after the Election Commission announced the dates of assembly polls.

Jammu and Kashmir will witness assembly polls after a decade. The last assembly election was held in 2014. A former Member of Parliament (MP) and ex-Union Minister, Farooq Abdullah, is arguably the most popular political leader from the Kashmir Valley.

Just before the 2024 general elections, the NC veteran, Farooq announced his decision not to contest polls citing health reasons. But his son Omar had then said that skipping Lok Sabha polls did not mean the end of the political career of his father.

Omar lost the recent Lok Sabha elections from the Baramulla seat to Engineer Rashid, who is jailed under UAPA. His son, Omar Abdullah took over the party's reins in 2002. Since then, Farooq has primarily focused on a role in New Delhi.

Farooq won Lok Sabha elections in 2009, 2017, and 2019 from the Srinagar seat. He was union minister for New and Renewable Energy between 2009 and 2014.

Days ahead of poll date announcement, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court quashed the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate against Farooq.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Omar Abdullah and NC leader Omar Abdullah raised eyebrow at the Election Commission's decision to hold voting for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls in three phases.

"This is probably the first time an election is happening in phases after the 1987-88 election. It will be a new experience. But National Conference was already preparing for elections," Abdullah told reporters.

Omar called on the Election Commission to take notice of concerns over the large-scale reshuffle of senior police officers, including the head of J&K Police's Intelligence unit before polling.

"We wrote to the EC on police transfers in the past 24 hours... they should take notice." He said adding, the transfers may have been "done to benefit the BJP".

Jammu and Kashmir was reorganized as Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government earlier promised the return of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.