Jammu and Kashmir polls: Omar Abdullah wins Budgam assembly seat

On Tuesday, 8 October, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah won the Budgam assembly seat in Jammu and Kashmir, 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 over terror-funding charges. Rashid is currently out on bail.