Who Is Surinder Choudhary? Nowshera MLA Picked As J&K`s New Deputy CM By Omar Abdullah

Surinder Kumar Choudhary was sworn in as the Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar on Wednesday along with four other ministers. Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the 14th Chief Minister of J&K. Five members of the J&K Legislative Assembly including Choudhary took oath as the members of Omar Abdullah’s council of ministers. 

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Surinder Choudhary is the MLA from Nowshera assembly seat in Jammu division's Rajouri district. He defeated the J&K BJP president, Ravinder Raina by 7819 in the Assembly elections. Newly elected J&K CM Abdullah told media that Surinder Choudhary would be the deputy Chief Minister. The step has been taken to give greater representation to the Jammu division, where the NC has won four seats, and Congress just one. 

Surinder Kumar Chowdhary, 56, was born in Marha, Jammu. His father is Dayal Chand. Chowdhary completed his education up to the eighth grade, attending Government High School in Ghajansoo, where he finished his studies in 1999. He entered politics in the 2014 Assembly elections, contesting from the Nowshera seat on a PDP ticket, but lost to BJP's Ravinder Raina. In that election, Raina secured 37,374 votes while Surinder received 27,871.

The BJP managed to capture what was once a Congress stronghold, and now Surinder Chowdhary has claimed the Nowshera seat. After Ravinder Raina waved the BJP flag in 2014, Chowdhary ran in the 2024 elections on a National Conference ticket, defeating Raina, who is the BJP's state president. This victory has now placed the seat in the hands of Farooq Abdullah, leading to Chowdhary being rewarded with the position of Deputy Chief Minister.

Chowdhary and Ravinder Raina have long been fierce rivals. Their animosity began during the 2014 Nowshera Assembly elections when they first faced off against each other. During that campaign, their rivalry escalated to the point of a physical altercation, resulting in Raina being hospitalized. Since then, the two have remained bitter enemies.

With an elected strength of 90 MLAs, the J&K government can have only nine ministers in addition to the chief minister. Interestingly, no Congress MLA has been inducted into the Omar Abdullah headed council of ministers although the NC and the Congress fought the Assembly polls in alliance.