On Wednesday, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), following his party’s decisive victory in the September-October elections.
The 54-year-old politician’s party triumphed over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), securing 42 seats in the 90-member assembly. Abdullah’s government will be supported by four Independent legislators and one member from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The swearing-in ceremony took place at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar, with prominent Indian leaders in attendance, including opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi.
This marks the first elected government in IIOJK since the revocation of Article 370, which stripped the region of its special status. It is also Abdullah’s second term as chief minister, following his first tenure in 2009. He is the first chief minister to take office since the region’s special status was removed.
Omar Abdullah comes from a political dynasty—his father, Farooq Abdullah, served as IIOJK’s chief minister three times, and his grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was the region’s first prime minister and also held the position of chief minister.
