In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Vice President of the National Conference, Omar Abdullah, has been unanimously elected as the Legislature Party Leader today. After emerging as the single largest party with 42 elected MLAs, the National Conference held its legislature party meeting in Srinagar to discuss government formation with its pre-poll alliance partners, Congress and CPI (M). Four winning independent candidates also joined the National Conference during the meeting.

Addressing the media, Mr Omar Abdullah said the National Conference is waiting for a formal letter of support from the Congress party, after which he will approach the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, and stake a claim to government formation.

Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer of J&K, Pandurang K. Pole, and other officials of the Election Commission met with the Lieutenant Governor today and submitted the list of names of the members recently elected to the J&K Assembly. These developments formally set in motion the process of government formation in the Union Territory. In a related development, the Election Commission today lifted the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana following the completion of the election process.