Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the Budgam assembly seat while retaining Ganderbal, a stronghold for his family. His resignation reduced the National Conference’s strength in the assembly to 41,

J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has retained his Ganderbal seat and resigned from Budgam after the recent assembly polls, necessitating a bypoll. Omar, proficient now in Hindi, Urdu, and Kashmiri, took his oath in Kashmiri,

Omar Abdullah fought the Assembly elections from Budgam and Ganderbal and won from both places. In the former, he had defeated Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi of the PDP by nearly 19,000 votes, while defeating the same party's Bashir Ahmad Mir by over 10,000 voters in the latter.

Omar Abdullah, who took oath as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister last Wednesday, was an MLA from Ganderbal from 2009 to 2014 during his first stint as chief minister.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has chosen to retain the Ganderbal constituency after vacating the Budgam assembly seat. This moves underlines the strategic importance of Ganderbal, a stronghold for the Abdullah family.

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah retains the Ganderbal assembly seat while resigning from Budgam, prompting a bypoll. The National Conference emerges as the largest party in recent polls, and Abdullah prepares for a coalition government.

Omar Abdullah resigned from the Budgam assembly seat and retained the Ganderbal constituency, the National Conference's bastion. He took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Under his leadership,

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday resigned the Budgam Assembly seat from where he had also won the recent election. He had contested from two seats, Ganderbal and Budgam, and won both. His resignation from the Budgam seat was announced by the pro-tem Speaker Mubarak Gul in the Assembly.

Ganderbal has long been associated with the Abdullah family, with NC founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah representing the area in 1977, and Farooq Abdullah, the current party president, doing so in 1983,