Abdullah, the National Conference (NC) candidate, had support of current NC MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi for this extremely crucial seat.

With NC's Omar Abdullah as one of the key candidates in the constituency, the Budgam Assembly constituency has become one of the hot seats in Jammu and Kashmir.

Presently, Former chief minister Omar Abdullah of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference is leading from Budgam.

Omar Abdullah is contesting from Central Kashmir’s Budgam and Ganderbal constituencies, where polls were conducted on September 25.

On Tuesday, 8 October, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah won the Budgam assembly seat in Jammu and Kashmir, defeating the PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi by a margin of more than 18,000 votes. Abdullah, who is also leading from the family bastion of Ganderbal, secured 36,010 votes in Budgam, while Mehdi got 17,525 votes.

In the first assembly polls since the Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi and the BJP face a rejuvenated and vindicated Opposition in the Haryana assembly polls. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir is voting after almost a decade and it remains to be seen how the abrogation of Article 370 has impacted the political landscape of the Valley.

For decades, the Ganderbal constituency has been synonymous with the Abdullah dynasty, with three generations—Sheikh Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah, and Omar Abdullah—representing it. However, the NC stronghold is now under threat,

Chief Electoral Officer PK Pole said that CCTVs have been set up in each counting hall for record creation. He told ANI, “Counting will begin at 7.30 am for postal ballots and 8 am for EVMs. Polls were held peacefully and no candidate or political party faced any kind of difficulty.