Omar Abdullah's NC touches majority mark without Congress as 4 Independents extend support
PTC News Desk: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), led by Omar Abdullah, won a majority in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Thursday after four independent MLAs decided to join it.
With this induction, the NC's strength in the Assembly increased to 46, which is exactly the majority mark; this does not include the five MLAs to be nominated by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
Pyare Lal Sharma, Satish Sharma, Choudhary Mohammed Akram, and Dr Rameshwar Singh, who won the Inderwal, Chhamb, Surankote, and Bani seats, all supported the NC.
This means that the Kashmiri party no longer needs Congress's help to govern, exacerbating the party's existential problem, which has been caused by far too many leadership squabbles and election losses, the most recent of which was in Haryana.
The NC ended counting votes on Tuesday with 42 seats, while Congress had six.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which dominated the Jammu region as expected, received 29 votes; however, the saffron outfit's total has now increased to 32 following backing from the other three independents.
The People's Democratic Party of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti fell, losing all but three seats from its 2014 tally of 28 and, with it, any chance of playing 'kingmaker'.
- PTC NEWS
