Notification for 12th assembly in Jammu and Kashmir issued

After getting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's mandatory approval, the state law department has issued a notification for constituting the 12th legislative assembly.

"After obtaining the mandatory approval from the chief minister on fax from London, the law department has issued a notification for constituting the 12th state legislative assembly that supersedes the 11th legislative assembly which was scheduled to complete its term Jan 20, 2015," a senior official of the state law department told IANS.

The notification was issued late Tuesday.

Under the state constitution, the assembly has to be constituted by the state law department, while in other states, the notification about constituting assemblies is issued by the election commission of India.

Jammu and Kashmir has its own constitution which is applicable to the state concomitantly with the Indian constitution.

The senior law department official said the new legislators will take oath after the next government is formed and the governor will appoint a pro-tem speaker who will administer oath of office to the new legislators.

The 12th state assembly has 87-members - 28 from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 25 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 15 from the National Conference (NC) and 12 from the Congress. Seven independents have also won elections.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti will meet Governor N.N. Vohra Wednesday to discuss possibilities of the next government in the state, while BJP general secretary Ram Madhav met the governor Tuesday.

State BJP president Jugul Kishore will also meet the governor separately for discussions Wednesday.

Since no single party could get a simple majority of 44 to form government on its own, negotiations are on between the PDP and the BJP to stitch a ruling coalition in the state.

Omar Abdullah is presently in London where his father Farooq Abdullah is recovering after a successful kidney transplant surgery.