National Conference Legislative Party leader Omar Abdullah met LG Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan on October 11 and claimed to form the government.
The order to lift President's rule in Jammu and Kashmir before the formation of a new government was announced late on Sunday night. The Home Ministry said that President Draupadi Murmu has issued an order to lift President's Rule even before the swearing-in of the new Chief Minister.
The last assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir was held 10 years ago in 2014. After the elections, BJP-PDP formed a coalition government. In 2018, the government fell after the BJP withdrew support and Mehbooba Mufti resigned as CM. Since then Jammu and Kashmir was ruled by the Centre.
In this regard, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah can take oath as Chief Minister today. In the assembly elections, the National Conference (NC) won 42 seats, its ally Congress won 6 seats and the CPI(M) won one seat. After the results, NC chief Farooq Abdullah said that Omar will become the CM.
In a meeting held on October 10, Omar was elected as the leader of the legislative party. After this, Omar went to the Raj Bhavan in Srinagar on the evening of 11 October and claimed to form the government of LG Manoj Sinha and INDIA coalition in Jammu and Kashmir.
The notification to lift President's rule was announced late on Sunday night.
Why President's Rule from 2018 till now…. 3 points
- Governor's Rule in June 2018: After Mehbooba Mufti's government fell, Governor's rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir for six months, as per Article 92 of the state constitution, as Article 370 was not abrogated there. The central government imposed President's rule after the completion of the 6-month period of Governor's rule, which was later extended further.
- President's rule again after abrogation of 370: President's rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir on October 31, 2019 after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and the bifurcation of the region into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Ministry of Home Affairs passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 under Article 73 of the President's Rule.
- Removal of President's Rule required before new government: For the new government to take office, it is necessary to restore the provisions relating to the functioning of the Legislative Assembly. This cannot happen during President's rule. Apart from this President's rule needs to be removed to allow the elected government to take oath.
Omar, who won the election from 2 seats, can take oath as Chief Minister today.
Omar has won assembly elections from two seats. He is elected from Ganderbal and Budgam seats. Both seats have been NC strongholds. His grandfather Sheikh Abdullah won from Ganderbal seat in 1977 and father Farooq Abdullah won from here in 1983, 1987 and 1996. When Omar became CM for the first time in 2008, he also won the election from this seat.
Also, Budgam seat is also dominated by NC. NC has lost only once here in the last 10 assembly elections. In fact, Omar lost to Engineer Rashid from the Baramulla seat in the Lok Sabha elections, so he contested from two safe seats.
NC alone has the support of 47 MLAs 4 of the 7 independent MLAs who won the election declared their support to the NC on 10 October. These four independents are Pyare Lal Sharma from Inderwal, Satish Sharma from Chamb, Mohammad Akram from Surankot and Dr. from Bani seat. Rameshwar Singh.
After this Omar said – now our number has increased to 46. Also a day later on 11 October, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) endorsed the NC. Mehraj Malik is the only MLA of the party elected from Doda seat.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
