Jammu and Kashmir: Three generations of Abdullah family cast vote in Srinagar

Lok Sabha elections 2024 | Three generations of Abdullah family vote in Srinagar, Omar Abdullah urges large voter turnout.

Three generations of the Abdullah family on Monday cast their vote in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, with National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah appealing to people to turn out in large numbers to exercise their franchise.

NC president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and his two grandsons and first-time electors Zahir and Zamir cast their vote at the polling station at the Burn Hall School in Srinagar. "We have two first-time voters with us. It is for the first time that three generations of our family are voting together," Mr. Omar Abdullah, also a former chief minister, said.

No member of the Abdullah family is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Srinagar for the first time since 1998. The only loss the NC suffered a loss on this seat was in the 2014 general elections.

While the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, is not contesting any of the three Lok Sabha seats, including Srinagar, in Kashmir, the party is confident that the elections in the Valley will end the domination of the NC and the PDP in the region.

The NC, a part of the INDIA bloc, has fielded influential Shia leader and former minister Aga Ruhullah Mehdi. The PDP has named its youth unit president Waheed Para as its candidate.

Even though the Srinagar seat was expected to witness a virtually head-on contest between Mr. Mehdi and Mr. Para, Apni Party's Mohammad Ashraf Mir and DPAP's Amir Ahmad Bhat are also in the fray along with 20 others, including two women.

Talking to reporters after voting, Mr. Omar Abdullah appealed to people to come out and vote as it was the "only democratic way to raise their voice against the decisions taken by the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir".