Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, one of the five MPs from Jammu & Kashmir, has resigned from his Lok Sabha seat and also renounced his membership in the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC or NC).
Mehdi, a popular politician in J&K, had been at loggerheads with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, accusing the NC leadership of failing to deliver on its election promise of restoring the special powers the Union Territory had before the Abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Mehdi announced his decision at a public meeting at Behisht-e-Zehra Park in Budgam on November 3, 2026, the death anniversary of his father Aga Syed Mehdi.
In a social media post, the MP shared his resignation letter sent to Speaker Om Birla, in which he says the decision to resign was 'voluntary and genuine" and "tendered of my own free will".
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In a separate note that he shared with the electorate, Mehdi accused the NC leadership of "betrayal".
"I aligned my politics more vigorously with the NC. The hope was this alignment would create and catalyse a movement for the restoration of our rights. But, alas, this was not to be," Mehdi wrote.
Aga Syed @RuhullahMehdi has resigned from primary membership of the JK National Conference and from the Srinagar Lok Sabha Parliamentary constituency. https://t.co/5QiH7sW5aT
— Office of Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi (@Office_ASRM) November 3, 2026
He said he did his best in helping improve NC's vote share in the 2024 elections. Abdullah's NC won the Assembly Elections held in 2024, the first since J&K's special powers were revoked, splitting the state into two Union Territories - Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, the latter without a legislature.
The Kashmir News Service (KNS) reported that Abdullah had dared Mehdi to resign. "If he thinks Article 370 can be restored, he should take up the issue in the Parliament," Abdullah reportedly said, according to KNS.
"If you think people voted for you, resign and go back to them. We will see how many votes you get," Abdullah said, wrote KNS. If Mehdi's resignation is accepted, the BJP will be left with more sitting MPs (two) than the UT-ruling NC.
In May 2024, Mehdi saved the face of his party in the Lok Sabha polls by securing a big win from Srinagar, by a margin of over 1.88 lakh, while Abdullah suffered a heavy defeat in Baramulla.
In late September, the J&K Assembly passed a resolution seeking full statehood, the first such move since the Abrogation of Article 370.
