Lok Sabha election | Farooq Abdullah won't contest owing to health: Omar Abdullah

National Conference president and sitting MP from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah would not contest the Lok Sabha polls owing to his heath, the party said on Wednesday.

The announcement was made by his son and NC vice president Omar Abdullah at a party function in Rawalpora on the outskirts of the city here.

"He (Farooq Abdullah) has taken permission from (party's general secretary) (Ali Mohammad) Sagar and other party members to not contest the polls this time because of his health," Omar Abdullah said.

He said it is now the party's responsibility to field the best candidate from the constituency. He hoped that the voters would help the NC candidate succeed so that he/she becomes a voice of the people of Srinagar in Delhi.

In the 2002 Legislative Assembly elections, Omar Abdullah was chosen to lead the NC, while the 86-year-old Farooq Abdullah shifted base to the Centre.

Farooq Abdullah was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2002 from Jammu and Kashmir and then re-elected in 2009. He resigned from the Rajya Sabha in May 2009 and won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Srinagar.

Abdullah joined the United Progressive Alliance government as a Cabinet Minister of New and Renewable Energy.

Abdullah contested the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat again in the 2014 elections but was defeated by the Peoples Democratic Party candidate Tariq Hameed Karra.

However, Karra resigned from Lok Sabha in 2017 leading to a by-election for the Srinagar parliamentary seat which Abdullah won defeating the PDP candidate Nazir Ahmed Khan.

He won the polls again in 2019.

Omar Abdullah said the upcoming Parliamentary election was very different from the past polls.

"For the last 30 years, the elections have been affected in one way or the other due to which the people did not participate in the polls -- be it because of the gun or boycott calls. Our politics in Srinagar had been limited. Few areas used to come out to vote and our politics used to run on that.

"This time, the atmosphere will be different. We will not see any boycott calls, and the impact of guns will be far less. This time, the people of Srinagar have to decide whether they want to participate in politics here or not. They have to decide whether they want to raise their voice or not, whether they want to choose their representative or not," the NC vice president said.