The Hindu Business Line : NC emerging as single largest party in JK

SRINAGAR: The National Conference on Sunday appeared to be emerging as the single largest party in a fractured verdict in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections in which Congress looked to be the king maker.

With results of five seats already out, the NC headed by Omar Abdullah has won three seats and was ahead in 23 of the 87 seats for which counting of votes was taken up today.

Omar Abdullah, seen as a prospective Chief Minister in a possible coalition government, himself won by a margin of 3,600 votes from Ganderbal, where he was defeated in 2002. 38-year-old Omar said his preference would be to align with Congress in case NC was to form a government. PDP, the erstwhile ally of Congress in the dissolved Assembly, was leading in 20 seats. Its patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed won from Anantnag by 5,000 votes. The party had 16 seats in the dissolved Assembly, all from the valley.

Congress, which holds the key to next government formation, was leading in 16 seats, suffering a setback mainly due to the BJP surge in the Jammu region. In the last elections, Congress held 20 seats and shared power with PDP. 'Others' were ahead in 9 se ats.

Former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad declined to go into which party the Congress would support in forming the government but felt it could ally with anyone who would help in combating terrorism. After the 2002 polls, by a rotation formula, PDP headed the government for the first three years and the Congress for the next three years which was cut short towards the end when PDP withdrew support on the Amarnath issue. - PTI

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