 "Farooq Abdullah")
Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due to health concerns, his son Omar Abdullah announced on Wednesday.
"He [Farooq Abdullah] has taken permission from [the party's General Secretary] [Ali Mohammad] Sagar and other party members to not contest the polls this time because of his health," Omar Abdullah stated, as reported by news agency PTI.
The NC Vice President also said it is now the party's responsibility to field the best candidate from the constituency with the hope that the voters would help him succeed so that he becomes a voice of the people in Delhi.
Throughout his extensive political career, spanning over four decades, Abdullah has faced electoral defeat only once. In 2014, the three-time Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir lost to Tariq Hameed Karra of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Abdullah reclaimed victory in 2017, succeeding Karra, who had resigned from the PDP and vacated the seat in 2016.
Farooq Abdullah, first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980, later shifted his focus to state politics and succeeded his father Sheikh Abdullah as the Chief Minister after the latter's death in 1982.
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In the 2002 Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, Omar Abdullah took over the leadership of the National Conference (NC), while Farooq Abdullah moved to national politics.
Farooq Abdullah was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir in 2002 and was re-elected in 2009. He resigned from the Rajya Sabha in May 2009 and won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Srinagar.
The upcoming Lok Sabha elections will see polling in Jammu and Kashmir, including Udhampur and Jammu, on April 19 and 26. Anantnag-Rajouri will vote on May 7, Srinagar on May 13, and Baramulla on May 20. Vote counting is scheduled for June 4.
(With agency input)
