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Onkar Singh in Srinagar
An angry Omar Abdullah stormed out of the counting centre in Srinagar when he learnt of his defeat at the hands of Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party candidate Qazi Mohammad Afzal by over 3500 votes.
The counting for the all the seven circles of Ganderbal, Abdullah's constituency, got over around noon.
Visibly shaken and upset, the National Conference president refused to talk to the media before jumping into his car and driving away.
Abdullah had driven into the Sher-e-Kashmir convention centre at Centaur hotel, which doubled up as the counting centre, at around 8.45 in the morning.
At the end of the third round when he was trailing his PDP rival by 749 votes, he told rediff.com: "I don't know why the media has been talking about trends. There is a buzz in the media circles that Omar Abdullah is losing. I would wait till the last round before talking to the media persons."
Asked what he would do in case he lost the seat, Abdullah sarcastically said, "In our family there has been a tradition to go to London."
The moment the PDP supporters learnt they had gained a lead of over 3000 they started raising victory slogans. An embarrassed Abdullah was left with no choice, but to leave.
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