National Conference president and chief ministerial candidate Omar Abdullah today filed his nomination papers for the Ganderal Assembly constituency—and warned party workers that the J&K elections would be the ‘‘toughest ever’’, especially since there was an ‘‘anti-incumbency factor’’ at work. During a speech at the Nawa-e-Subh party headquarters, Omar told party workers: ‘‘These elections will be different. This time, the opposition has united to defeat us. I admit that there is an anti-incumbency factor, but it’s nothing new. It’s faced by every ruling party.’’ Omar added that while it was easy to rope in crowds for public rallies, winning elections was a ‘‘different matter’’. ‘‘Even I can arrange hundreds of people for a rally, but to win elections, parties need to work for the welfare of the masses,’’ he said. ‘‘We have developmental works to our credit and we intend to take them to the masses.’’ The party had some ‘‘fresh programmes’’ that it would pull out of the hat during campaigning, he added. Omar, who took over as NC president from his father and J-K chief minister Farooq Abdullah in June, also told reporters that ‘‘I’m not contesting from Ganderbal just because it’s a safe seat.’’ Ganderbal is an NC stronghold from where the party has won with a majority in 1977, 1983, 1987 and 1996. ‘‘Given our achievements, I could have contested from anywhere, but the party wanted to me contest from Ganderbal.’’ That the road ahead for the ruling party isn’t an easy one is evident from the numbers that are switching party loyalties just days before September 16, the first day of polling. NC legislator from Amirakadal constituency, Mohammad Shafi Bhat, today sprang a surprise by filing his nomination papers on a Congress ticket. Bhat had been ignored for the Amirakadal seat in favour of Ghulam Nabi Mir during the selection of candidates. Another setback was the resignation of Farooq Abdullah’s cultural secretary, Shafi Shaida. According to sources, Shaida will be contesting as an Independent from Zadibal, where the NC is fielding Sadiq Ali, a Shia.
