Srinagar:

Ahead of his oath-taking ceremony as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday that he “looks forward” to working in cooperation with the government of India but being the chief minister of a Union Territory has its own challenges.

While talking to the news agency ANI, he reiterated on statehood status of Jammu and Kashmir.

“I have some strange distinctions. I was the last chief minister to serve a full six-year term. Now I’ll be the first chief minister of the Union territory of J&K. The last distinction, as in the one of serving six years, I’m quite happy about. Being a chief minister of a Union Territory is a different matter altogether. It has its own challenges. I hope that the status of a union territory is a temporary one. We look forward to working in cooperation with the government of India to resolve the people’s problems and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring statehood to J&K,” Mr Abdullah said.

Further, he asserted that the people of J&K have gone through difficult times and they have many expectations from this government.

He said, “Jammu and Kashmir has gone through difficult times. People have many expectations and our challenge is to live up to them. We have a lot to do. We have to give people the hope that this is their government and they will be heard. They were not being heard for the last 5-6 years. It will be our responsibility to listen to them and act on it.”

#WATCH | Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir CM-designate Omar Abdullah says, “We have a lot to do. We have to give people the hope that this is their government and they will be heard. They were not being heard for the last 5-6 years. It will be our responsibility to listen to them and… pic.twitter.com/FdDuCiPZJN

— ANI (@ANI) October 16, 2024

Omar Abdullah is set to take oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar today.

The oath-taking ceremony will be held at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), Srinagar. The oath of office to Mr Abdullah along with his council of ministers will be administered by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

Posters have been put up outside Srinagar airport to welcome Lok Sabha LoP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who along with other INDIA bloc leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Supriya Sule, Prakash Karat, Kanimozhi will attend the oath-taking ceremony of Omar.

This will be the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganization of the former state into two Union Territories.

This came after the Congress-National Conference secured 48 seats, with the NC winning 42 and the Congress six seats in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.

Jammu and Kashmir was under Presidential rule since 2018, after the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew its support from the coalition government with Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Recently, the president’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir was revoked, clearing the way for the formation of a new government following the recently concluded Assembly polls in the Union Territory.

New Delhi:

Counting for the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election – the first since Article 370 was scrapped in August 2019 and the first since 2014 – began 8 am, with postal ballots first to be opened.

In early leads, the Congress-National Conference alliance has taken a commanding lead in what was to supposed to be a tight race. At 9.45 am the Congress-NC is ahead in 49 seats and the BJP in 24.

The People’s Democratic Party of ex Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti – whose party allied with the BJP after the 2014 election but fell apart by 2018 – is leading in three.

Independent candidates are in pole position in 14 seats.

Within the Congress-NC alliance, the former party is leading in 12 of the 39 seats it is contesting, while the latter, which has fielded candidates for 56 seats, is ahead in 35. The results are a big positive change for the NC, which won only 15 seats in the last Assembly election in J&K. 

The big negative change is for the PDP, which won 28 seats in the 2014 poll. The Congress and the BJP are on course to match, and possibly exceed, its past haul of 12 and 25 seats.

The race to control the former state’s 95 Assembly seats – of which five have been nominated by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in a controversial move – is predicted to be a close one.

Row Over 5 Nominated MLAs

Exit polls have given the Congress-NC alliance a slight edge. An aggregate of three indicates the Congress-NC will win 43 seats and the BJP 26, with the PDP winning between four and 12.

Exit polls, therefore, predict a hung Assembly; the J&K Assembly has 90 elected seats with the majority set at 46. Should exit polls – and they often get it wrong – hold true, the PDP could be the ‘kingmaker’ for the Congress-NC, but not for the BJP, which will also need support from non-aligned lawmakers.

It is with this in mind that NC leaders Farooq Abdullah and his son, Omar Abdullah, and the Congress, as well as the PDP, have criticised the Lieutenant Governor’s move to nominate five members.

READ | J&K LG’s Power To Nominate MLAs Sparks Row Before Poll Results

These five “will hold full legislative powers and privileges, like elected representatives”.

“This is an assault on democracy… and fundamental principles of the Constitution,” senior J&K Congress Ravinder Sharma said. The NC and PDP slammed the “subversion of the people’s mandate”.

The power to nominate was granted after the Delimitation Commission increased the number of seats in J&K. The five will include two women, two Kashmiri Pandits, and a displaced person from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir – to the Legislative Assembly, increasing the total number of seats to 95. 

‘Kingmaker’ PDP

Meanwhile, te PDP, at this time, has ruled out a re-run of its 2019 alliance with the BJP, insisting it will only consider a ‘secular alliance’. That has sparked talk of aligning with the Congress-NC combine.

READ | “Why Not?” Farooq Abdullah On Post-Poll Alliance, PDP Says…

Last night NC patriarch Farooq Abdullah said “why not” when asked about the PDP as an ally, although that party’s senior leader, Iltija Mufti, quickly called such speculation “unnecessary”.

Farooq Abdullah’s son, Omar Abdullah, also a former Chief Minister, was more circumspect in his response, posting on X, “They haven’t extended support… haven’t offered support… and we don’t know what the voters have decided yet. So I wish we could put a lid on all this premature speculation…”

They haven’t extended support, they haven’t offered support and we don’t know what the voters have decided yet, so I really wish we could put a lid on all this premature speculation for the next 24 hours. https://t.co/jc9KLPPVUU

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 7, 2024

Earlier Farooq Abdullah told news agency ANI, “I extend my heartfelt gratitude (to the PDP)… we will try to build this state together”, when asked about news that Ms Mufti had offered her support.

However, the senior Mr Abdullah also clarified, “I have not spoken with her.. only read it in the paper.”

Voting for this election took place over three phases – on September 18, September 25, and October 1.

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This week, we are speaking about Jammu Kashmir, where voters have now participated in 3 phases of polling for the first state elections in a decade and the message New Delhi is sending out over it.

The issue over Kashmir also came up in the UN General Assembly last week, although compared to previous years it was only Pakistan that raised it, and not countries like Turkey and Malaysia.

The Pakistan Prime Minister accused India of implementing a “final solution” for people in Jammu Kashmir since 2019. India’s response came quickly, in a series of responses at the UN, led by EAM Jaishankar.

Away from the UN, India sent out a message on Jammu Kashmir on the ground, as elections there got underway:

This was the first election since 2014, but more importantly the first since 2019, when the government made radical changes to the State, amended article 370 and clamped down on security in the newly created Union Territories.

– While many embassies had requested to go independently, most were refused.

– And no foreign journalists based in India or working for foreign media were allowed to visit the state and cover the election

However, the Ministry of External Affairs organised a group of senior diplomats- from 15 countries to witness polling in Srinagar.

Remember, Jammu Kashmir has seen regular elections in 1996, 2002, 2008,and 2014. However after the Centre dismissed the government and then carried out the changes in 2019, there have been no state assembly elections. The changes in 2019 were 4-fold- and led to international protests on different issues:

Legislative move – Amendment to article 370 and abolishing 35A- property . Article 370 was based on the 1948 Instrument of Accession that brought Jammu Kashmir into India, and therefor 370 cannot be abrogated- this move was opposed by Pakistan, and by China. The issue was also discussed in the UN Security Council for the first time, although no formal resolution was passed

Constitutional move – Parliament decided on the changes rather than legislative assembly

Cartographic – Reorganisation of State into 2 UTs- Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh.

Pakistan did this years ago – Gilgit-Baltistan/ what it calls Azad Kashmir, but is referred to as PoK in India.

The move to publish new maps led to diplomatic issues with 2 countries:

1. Nepal protested the new maps, that included disputed territory, this led to tensions for the next year

2. China protested the new maps, particularly with Ladakh, published in November 2019- 5 months later, the PLA amassed and aggressed along the Line of Actual Control, that led to a military standoff that continues.

Security – the influx of thousands of security officials who arrested 100s of political leaders and activists, cut off the internet, put restrictions on the media. This saw criticism from the US and European countries as well as Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia over Human Rights issues.

As a result, the Government’s message to the international community by taking diplomats for the elections was :

1. The democratic process in Jammu Kashmir has now been restored- albeit, Ladakh will not have assembly polls any more

2. The security situation is now under control- while there is a recent uptick in terror attacks, the state’s security apparatus was able to manage peaceful campaigning and polling

3. For Pakistan in particular, that raised its objections to the 2019 moves, stopped trade and other travel, expelled the Indian High Commissioner and recalled its own the question will be once the statehood of Jammu Kashmir is restored, as the government has promised to do, will this see a rollback of those measures Pakistan took as well?

Finally for the United Nations, the message from New Delhi appears to be that the government no longer recognises the dispute over the Indian side of the Line of Control, and will only discuss PoK. There is some history to this:

– in 2014 India asked the UN Military Observer Group on India and Pakistan UNMOGIP to shut down operations

-in 2016, India publicly announced soldiers had crossed the UN-monitored Line of Control for operations after the Uri terror attack

-in 2019, with the moves on Article 370 and bifurcation of the state, the government signalled the status quo of the past did not matter 

Worldview take

The fact that New Delhi showcased the elections in Jammu and Kashmir for the international community in its controlled tour, indicates that it is still sensitive to international opinion on what it maintains is an internal issue. The absence of violence does not mean peace, and while there is little international patience for Pakistan’s narrative on the issue, as well as any attempts at cross-border terrorism, India will be always be watched not only on efforts to restore the democratic process and statehood, but to ensure human rights that it has committed to in universal declarations.

WV Reading Recommendations:

A Dismantled State : The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 By Anuradha Bhasin

The Kashmir Conundrum: The Quest for Peace in a Troubled Land by General N.C. Vij

Kashmir Under 370- A Personal History by J&K’s Former Director General of Policy by Mahendra Sabharwal

The Limits of Influence: America’s Role in Kashmir by Howard B. Schaffer

Magnificent Delusions – Pakistan,The United States, And An Epic History Of Misunderstanding by Hussain Haqqani

A Long Season of Ashes by Siddhartha Gigoo

The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012 by A.G.Noorani

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

A paramilitary person stands guard as the voters queue up to cast their vote for the second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in Budgam on September 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Women speak to each other outside a polling booth during the second phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, at a tribal area of Poonch district, J&K.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Jammu And Kashmir Assembly Elections Live Updates:

Voting in the first phase of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir has begun across 24 constituencies in seven districts today. The Union Territory is voting for the first time in an Assembly election in 10 years. This is the also first Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370, which gave the erstwhile state special status, in 2019.

This is also the first time that Jammu and Kashmir will see an Assembly election as a Union Territory. When Article 370 was abrogated, the state was divided into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Over 23 lakh voters are eligible to vote for 219 candidates, including 90 independents, in eight Assembly segments in three districts of the Jammu region and 16 in four districts of Kashmir Valley.

Polling is being held in four seats in Pulwama, two in Shopian, three in Kulgam, seven in Anantnag, three in Kishtwar, three in Doda, and two each in Ramban and Banihal.

Here are live updates on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections: