Speaking to reports, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti said, "Omar Abdullah was reiterating one thing from the last 3-4 years that he would not contest elections till the time statehood is restored in Jammu and Kashmir. He even said that he could not beg the LG to approve every little order as the Chief Minister of a Union Territory. Now he is contesting from two seats. This shows the difference in what he says and what he does. This is what his family has done since 1947."
She earlier asserted that the PDP has never contested elections for the lust of power, but rather the party has always maintained the party’s agenda intact.
Apart from the family bastion of Ganderbal, Omar will be contesting from Budgam in Central Kashmir. In the last Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, in 2014, Omar contested and won from the Beerwah Assembly seat adjoining Budgam.
While Mufti has announced that she will not contest in the coming assembly election, given the current situation, it is not possible to implement her party's agenda even if she becomes the Chief Minister. Instead, her daughter, Iltija Mufti, will be making her electoral debut this time.
In the 2014 assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference won 15, and the Congress won 12. The PDP won 28 seats and formed the government with the BJP. But the alliance between the two parties with disparate ideologies fell through in 2018, and Jammu and Kashmir was placed under President's Rule. In 2019, the state's special status granted under the constitution was scrapped and it was split into two Union Territories.
(Inputs from agencies)
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