Jammu & Kashmir

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Omar Abdullah set to be the new CM of Jammu & Kashmir

29 Dec., 2008 : With the results of J&K Assembly Elections declared on 28th december, it is now certain that Omar Abdullah of the National Conference will be the new chief minister of J&K. Omar Abdullah, who led the National Conference campaign to emerge as the single largest party in J&K Assembly.

With the Congress backing the National Conference, a formal announcement is expected today after senior Congress leaders meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.The senior congress leaders will brief Manmohan Singh about the party's decision to go with the National Conference and after this Omar Abdullah will seal the deal with Sonia Gandhi. Abdullah is expected to meet today Mrs. Gandhi to discuss the formation of the new government in Jammu and Kashmir.

Can Jammu & Kashmir polls break 36-year-old jinx?

An interesting fact about the J&K elections is that this time a large number of female candidates have contested for the assembly elections and people are now waiting to see if a 36-year-old record for the highest number of women in the assembly will be broken.

It was in 1972 that four women (Zainab Begum, Hajra Begum, Shanta Bharti and Nirmala Devi) were elected to the legislature, which still remains the highest figure for women MLAs in the state.All women were elected on Congress tickets.There were four others (Khem Lata Wakhloo, Amina Begum, Hassan Ara Begum and Misra Bano) who contested but lost.

This time too a large number of women are in the fray in the state elections. As many as 10 women candidates contested in the first three phases of elections and a large number are expected to contest in the remaining phases.