New Delhi

Omar Abdullah is likely to become the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir for the second time. His party National Conference has won 42is close to winning a majority in the Legislative Assembly elections.

National Conference Party has from all parts of Kashmir Valley and also a few seats in Jammu while the BJP is the second largest party having won 28 seats – all from the Jammu region, at least three more than 2014 elections.

This will be Omar Abdullah’s second term as chief Minister. He had lost to PDP in the 2014 elections after the completion of his six-year term.

Election Commission's graph on results of J&K Legislative Election

His nomination was announced by his father and patron of the National Conference Farooq Abdullah.

There are huge celebrations in the National Conference camp as is evident from this video posted on X:

Immensely grateful to all the people of J&K.pic.twitter.com/RtZqRIA8UN

— JKNC (@JKNC_) October 8, 2024

BJP is also celebrating in Jammu as it has won more seats than last time. In Kashmir the party candidate has come at second position in Gurex and Shopian. The party posted a video of celebrations in Jammu on X:

#WATCH | #JammuKashmirElections2024 | BJP workers in Jammu burst crackers to celebrate the party's lead in the region as per election trends. pic.twitter.com/ftrNwmsvyu

— ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2024

In Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference is leading or has won 42 seats (won 41, leading 1), BJP is leading or has won 29 seats (won 27, leading 2), Congress won 6 seats, PDP 3, JK People's Conference 1, AAP 1 and Independents 7. CPI-M is leading on one seat.

"People have given their mandate, they have proven that they don't accept the decision that was taken on August 5...Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister," Farooq Abdullah told reporters in Srinagar.

Polling was held for 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir in the first assembly elections since the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into two union territories.

Farooq Abdullah, President of the National Conference announced his son Omar’s name for chief ministership and said "We want to tackle issues of unemployment, inflation and others. I am grateful to everybody for casting their votes," Farooq Abdullah said.

Omar Abdullah, who won from Budgam and Ganderbal, expressed his gratitude to the voters.

"We should wait for the final results to come. Only after that we can say something. As of now, I am really happy that NC has got victory and we are thankful to the voters. People have supported us more than we expected. It will now be our efforts to prove that we are worth these votes," Abdullah said.

PDP chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti congratulated Congress and NC for the mandate in their favour.

"I congratulate the leadership of Congress and National Conference for their outstanding performance. I also congratulate the people of Jammu & Kashmir for voting for a stable government. If it was not a clear mandate, then one would have thought that there could be some mischief," she said.

 Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday expressed satisfaction with the results of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) elections and said that this was the best performance of the BJP so far.

"The BJP has delivered its best performance so far. The way results are coming in, we have reached 29 seats in J&K and we could go even further. It is satisfying that the BJP fought this election solely on the issue of development," Singh added during an address.

Singh asserted that the BJP's voter turnout had also increased in J&K and hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the success of the party.