The legislature party of the PDP which met in Srinagar on Thursday afternoon unanimously chose Mehbooba Mufti as the chief ministerial candidate as also its leader.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, the first elected government in the Union Territory since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated.
Terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir on Saturday night, killing a former sarpanch in Shopian and injuring a tourist couple from Rajasthan in Anantnag, two days ahead of Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla.
The PDP has 28 MLAs, followed by NC's 15 and the Congress's 12. The three parties together will have majority in the 87-member House. The Bharatiya Janata Party is the second largest party in the state with 25 members.
What the election demonstrated is that the BJP has a stranglehold on most of the Hindu votes in the Union territory, observes David Devadas.
The chargesheet highlighted his links to Pakistan-trained Abu Dujana and Abu Qassim, who were killed in separate encounters with security forces, and went on to allege that he used to meet them personally as well as through Over Ground Workers.
Police said that Parra has been chargesheeted by the Criminal Investigation (Kashmir) wing of the Jammu and Kashmir's CID under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act dealing with waging war against the country and threatening peace.
The leaders who have been expelled are Dilawar Mir, Rafi Ahmad Mir, Zaffar Iqbal, Abdul Majeed Padroo, Raja Manzoor Khan, Javaid Hussain Baig, Qamar Hussain and Abdul Rahim Rather -- all former MLAs.
More than 40 per cent of the 908 candidates contesting the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are Independents, leading to claims that a large number of them have been propped up by the Bharatiya Janata Party to divide votes.
With 19 border polling stations along the Line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch, a contingency plan has been worked out to deal with cross-border shelling though chances are negligible given the ongoing ceasefire between India and Pakistan that came into effect in February 2021, officials said.
Peoples Democratic Party continued to play the guessing game on the issue of forming the new government with its ally Bharatiya Janata Party by saying on Friday that it cannot put a time frame for it.
Both candidates have shifted from their traditional constituencies - Sadhotra from Marh and Sharma from Akhnoor - after these two segments were reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Congress on Sunday took a dig at the PDP-BJP alliance, saying that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed should be "careful" about the conversion agenda being pursued by the saffron party.
The L-G will take decisions on police, officers of all-India services such as the IAS and the IPS, and giving sanction for prosecution in various cases.
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18 while Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on October 1, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
'With all outlets of public expression virtually choked for the last five years, suppressed anger and frustration is looking for an opening via the ballot box.' 'There is no escape from the inevitability of the 'Engineer Rashid' factor surfacing in a big enough way to upset everyone's applecart,' alerts Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
As suspense over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir continued, Peoples Democratic Party on Monday said the idea of a grand alliance with the National Conference and Congress was an option for forming a stable government in the state.
The ruling People's Democratic Party on Friday rejected the allegation of former chief minister Omar Abdullah about spying on him.
The row broke out after a private television news agency attributed the excerpts of the article shared by the NC leader to him.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested the People's Democratic Party youth wing president Waheed Parra in connection with a terror case, officials said.
Meanwhile, police did not allow journalists to gather near National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah's residence at Gupkar here, officials said.
The Army cancelled the event "due to implementation of the Model Code of Conduct".
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday lambasted the Jammu and Kashmir government for recommending Ghulam Mohammad Mir, a counter-insurgent for Padma Shri award.
'Article 370 is now dug 70 feet deep in the ground. It cannot come out.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Asserting that Article 370 is a thing of the past, Shah stated that no one can bring it back.
'There is a huge wait in Kashmir for compassion from the prime minister of India.'
Five army personnel were killed and six injured on Monday when terrorists ambushed their vehicle in the remote Machedi area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, officials said.
The decision came after the PDP's core group met for the first time on Sunday following the demise of former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The PDP elected the 56 year old unanimously to succeed her father.
'INDIA will easily cross 50 seats out of 90 in Jammu and Kashmir.'
Ghulam Nabi Azad remarked that the figures are not high enough to know whether the people are happy or angry with the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, Mehbooba Mufti said it is a message that the people have not accepted the Centre's decisions.
This will be first foray into electoral politics for Hussain, who officially joined the PDP on January 7.
'If you post on social media on an issue like power cuts in Tral, the police will come to your home and tell you to remove your social media post.' 'If you don't, then the local police threaten you that they will book you under PSA.' 'This is happening all the time in Kashmir.'
The challenges will be the real test of Mehbooba's leadership qualities and political acumen as she does not enjoy her father's stature and vast political experience.
'Who are Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti to issue certificates?'
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The outgoing Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday hinted at an intriguing possibility of supporting his party National Conference's bitter political rival PDP in forming a government in the state after the hung verdict in the Assembly polls.
People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and several other regional party leaders on Monday claimed that they have been placed under house arrest on the fifth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources said the sudden death of Sayeed leaves the BJP with little choice but to go with his obvious successor.
The People's Democratic Party which has emerged as the single largest party in Jammu and Kashmir appears to be in the pole position to form the government in the 87 member Assembly. Rediff.com brings you images from the ground.
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