Omar Abdullah has been unanimously elected as the leader of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) legislature party. National Conference president, Farooq Abdullah, confirmed this development on Thursday. He also mentioned that leaders of the pre-poll alliance partners will meet on Friday to discuss the next steps in forming the government in Jammu and Kashmir.

During a meeting held at the party headquarters, Nawa-i-Subah, all newly elected JKNC Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) gathered to choose their leader. The legislature party's leader is expected to become the next Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq Abdullah chaired the meeting, and he emphasized the importance of the upcoming meeting with alliance partners to finalize the government formation process.

The National Conference has emerged as the single largest party in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, securing 42 seats. Their alliance partners, Congress and CPI(M), have won six and one seat, respectively, ensuring a comfortable majority in the 95-member Assembly.

Omar Abdullah, who is also the vice president of the NC, stated that he did not expect the restoration of Article 370 under the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. He said that the immediate focus of the next NC-Congress government would be on restoring the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir.

“None of us are under any illusion that we can push for Article 370's restoration with the current government in Delhi. We know that it won’t be returned by the government that revoked it. So, we are setting that aside for now,” Omar Abdullah explained in a recent interview. The restoration of special status had been a key promise in the NC’s pre-poll manifesto, which helped the party secure its victory in the elections.

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