Omar Abdullah (PTI photo) SRINAGAR: Omar Abdullah 's double bill headlined J&K's first election in a decade as voters in the Union territory delivered Tuesday a mandate that put the National Conference-Congress alliance in line to form the govt, albeit with a thumbs down to one-half of the coalition and a fillip to BJP that saw it finish second with a higher tally than in 2014. NC rode Omar's victories in Ganderbal and Budgam to ratchet up 42 of the seats required for the alliance to hit the magic figure of 48 in the 95-strong assembly, which will have five nominees of the lieutenant governor. The figure is nearly three times the 15 seats NC won in the last election.
While Congress's kitty halved to six seats compared to 2014, BJP's rose from 25 to 29—all in the Jammu division. Mehbooba Mufti's PDP , the single largest party in the previous election with 28 MLAs, collapsed in a heap to end up with its worst-ever return of three seats. Winning Independents outnumbered both Congress and PDP, with seven of them forming the third-largest bloc.
"Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister," NC president Farooq Abdullah said, terming the poll verdict proof that J&K never accepted the nullification of Article 370 . Haryana Jammu & Kashmir Haryana Alliance View i Party View Seats: 90 Results Majority: 46 BJP 48 CONG 37 INLD 2 AAP 0 OTH 3 Results : 90 / 90 BJP WON Jammu & Kashmir Alliance View i Party View Seats: 90 Results Majority: 46 JKNC 42 BJP 29 CONG 6 PDP 3 OTH 10 Results : 90 /.
