SRINAGAR: The National Conference on Friday announced that former chief minister Omar Abdullah will fight from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat and Aga Ruhullah Mehdi from the Srinagar constituency.
The party today announced that Omar will fight from Baramulla Lok Sabha where he will be locked in a direct contest with Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone.
The party also said that Aga Ruhullah Mehdi will fight from the Srinagar Lok Sabha segment.
Omar joined politics in 1998 as a Lok Sabha member from Srinagar. He was again elected to Lok Sabha in 1999 and 2004 . He also served as a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Omar lost the 2002 state polls to PDP’s Qazi Afzal from Ganderbal, considered a bastion of Abdullah’s. In 2008 polls, he won from the Ganderbal segment. 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.
An influential Shia leader from Budgam, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi is a three-time legislator.