NC appears emerging as single largest party in JK

Srinagar, Dec 28 (PTI) The National Conference Sunday
appeared to be emerging as the single largest party in a
fractured verdict in India's frontier 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 11 seats.

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. (MORE) PTI