Occupied Kashmir brought under New Delhi’s direct rule
10 January, 2015
SRINAGAR: Indian-occupied Kashmir was brought under New Delhi’s direct rule on Friday 9,January,2015 after political rivals failed to agree on a power-sharing coalition, more than two weeks after elections in the territory.
A federal government spokesman confirmed that President Pranab Mukherjee had placed Governor NN Vohra in charge of the state, a day after the acting chief minister stepped down. "The president has approved the governor’s rule for the state,” Home Ministry spokesman M.A Ganapathy told AFP after Vohra had made an official recommendation to Mukherjee. The move comes more than two weeks after the December 23 announcement of results of the state elections which saw all parties fall way short of the 44 seats needed for an absolute majority.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference Party won only 15 seats after suffering an electoral meltdown, had stayed on as caretaker but he submitted his resignation to Vohra on Thursday. The imposition of direct rule means local representatives will have no say in the running of Occupied Kashmir for the timebeing. It comes after the two parties which won the most seats – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s far right Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – failed to work out a power sharing arrangement or cut a deal with other smaller parties. The PDP won 28 seats, while the BJP won 25.
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