Omar Abdullah was unanimously elected as leader of the National Conference legislature party, allowing him to stake claim for government formation in J&K.
The National Conference (NC), the single-largest party in the recent Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections with 42 seats in the 90-member assembly, received a further boost with four of the seven candidates who won as independents, extending support to the party, on Thursday.
NC vice president Omar Abdullah, the likely chief minister, made the announcement shortly after he was ‘unanimously’ picked by the party’s newly-elected MLAs, as the leader of the NC’s legislature party.
The four independent legislators are Pyare Lal Sharma, Satish Sharma, Choudhary Mohammed Akram, and Dr Rameshwar Singh. They won from the Inderwal, Chhamb, Surankote, and Bani assembly seats, respectively, with their winning margins over their respective nearest rival being 643, 6929, 8851, and 2048, according to the Election Commission.
With this, the NC’s tally in the assembly has reached 46, the majority figure in the House. This means that technically, the party led by Omar’s father Farooq Abdullah, also an ex-chief minister, does not require support from its pre-poll allies, including the Congress, to form government in the former state, its first since losing its special status and becoming a Union territory, both in 2019.
While the NC contested 51 seats, it gave 32 to the Congress; the latter won only six. The CPI(M) won the only seat it got under the seat-sharing agreement.
With 29 seats, the BJP emerged as the second-largest party here. From the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), led by Mehbooba Mufti, another former chief minister, only six candidates were victorious.
The polling for Jammu and Kashmir’s first assembly elections in a decade, was held on September 18, 25, and October 1. The vote counting was held on Tuesday.
J&K government formation latest updates
1. Omar Abdullah said that talks are ongoing with the Congress, and they have been given a day to decide on supporting the National Conference (NC) for government formation.
2. Earlier on Thursday, Omar Abdullah was unanimously elected as the leader of the National Conference legislature party, said NC president Farooq Abdullah.
3. Omar Abdullah expressed gratitude to NC legislators for choosing him as their leader, enabling him to stake claim to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
4. Congress MLAs will meet on Friday afternoon in Srinagar under JKPCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra to elect the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party. The chosen name will be sent for final approval by the party high command.
5. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (PDP) accused the NC and CPI(M) of hooliganism after the election results. Iltija Mufti, who lost election from Srigufwara-Bijbehara to NC’s Bashir Veeri, alleging NC workers were harassing PDP women members.
6. Independent MLA from Surankote, Chowdhury Mohd Akaram, said he will not join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at any cost, though multiple parties have approached him.
7. Omar Abdullah said that the first priority of the NC-Congress government will be to pass a resolution on the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.
8. Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday that restoring Article 370 will take time as it requires a legal approach, but restoring statehood is the immediate priority.
9. The NC-Congress government aims to reduce differences between the regions of Jammu and Kashmir and build trust among the Hindu community, Farooq Abdullah had said on Wednesday.
10. In the 90-seat Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, BJP won 29 seats, PDP got 3, People’s Conference and AAP secured 1 seat each. Independents won 7 seats in the union territory.
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