Omar Abdullah Elected NC Legislature Party Leader, Gets Support From 4 Independents

New Delhi: National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah was unanimously elected leader of the National Conference legislature party on Thursday, paving the way for him to become the Chief Minister. Meanwhile, NC has also received the support of four independent MLAs taking its total strength to 46 in the 90-member Assembly.   

Speaking to media persons, Omar thanked the legislators for reposing their faith in him and giving him the opportunity to stake a claim to form the next government. 

However, there is an air of uncertainty as the Congress, which fought the election in alliance with NC and won six seats, did not give a letter of support to NC until late Thursday evening. 

“We are waiting for the Congress letter. Once we get the letter, we will immediately go (to the Raj Bhavan). We have given the Congress till today to work on it,” he said on Thursday.

However, there is still room for maneuvering as the Governor has the right to nominate five MLAs. If he does nominate five MLAs, the total number of MLAs in the house will increase to 95, requiring any party or group to have a minimum of 48 members to claim a simple majority. In this case, NC will require the support of Congress. 

Meanwhile, NC  president Farooq Abdullah said a meeting of pre-poll allies would be held on Friday to take forward the process of forming the government. NC, Congress, and CPI (M) fought the J&K Assembly elections together, with Congress winning six seats and CPI (M) one. 

The four independent MLAs who offered their support to NC are Pyare Lal Sharma, Satish Sharma, Choudhary Mohammed Akram, and Rameshwar Singh. All of them are from Jammu, representing Inderwal, Chamb, Surankote, and Bani Assembly seats.