Srinagar

The National Conference (NC) announced candidature for the two Parliamentary seats in the Kashmir Valley on Friday (Apr 12). Party President Dr Farooq Abdullah announced that former chief minister and NC Vice President, Omar Abdullah will be their candidate from North Kashmir's Baramulla Parliamentary constituency. The party has chosen Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi as their candidate for the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency.

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Omar Abdullah would be fighting Peoples Conference President Sajad Gani Lone from the Baramulla constituency. Omar Abdullah joined politics in 1998 as a Lok Sabha member from Srinagar. He was again elected to Lok Sabha in 1999 and 2004.

Omar served as a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He lost the 2002 state polls to PDP’s Qazi Afzal from Ganderbal, considered a bastion of Abdullah’s. In the 2008 polls, he won from the Ganderbal segment and in the 2014 Assembly polls, Omar fought from two segments. He was defeated by PDP’s Muhammad Ashraf Mir from the Sonawar segment but won by a narrow margin against Nazir Ahmad Khan from the Beerwah seat.

Meanwhile, an influential Shia leader from Budgam, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi is a three-time legislator from Central Kashmir's Budgam district. The NC has decided to field him from Srinagar parliamentary constituency replacing Dr Farooq Abdullah who due to health issues has stayed away from the elections this time. 

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The National Conference had already announced candidates for the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency, where party leader Mian Altaf is in contest with two former chief ministers of J&K, Mehbooba Mufti and Ghulam Nabi Azad.  

The Udhampur parliamentary seat will go to polls on April 19, with BJP's Dr Jitendra Singh competing against Congress leader, Lal Singh.