National Conference leader Omar Abdullah will become Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister, declared Farooq Abdullah today as his party is set to sweep the assembly elections in the Union territory.

The veteran politician made the announcement while greeting his supporters after it became obvious in the trends that the Congress-NC alliance will sweep Jammu and Kashmir’s first polls in 10 years.

The alliance is leading in 52 out of the total 90 seats, comfortably past the halfway mark, while the BJP is ahead in 27 seats. Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may end up with just two seats, the trends show.

Omar Abdullah, who had earlier served in the top post from 2009 till 2015, this morning posted a selfie online and said he hopes the counting day will end well for him. “Last time around it didn’t end well for me personally. InshaAllah this time around it will be better,” said the NC leader.

He is yet to comment on being named as the next chief minister by his father.

Arvind Kejriwal emphasizes caution, noting that the lesson from Haryana’s early poll trends favoring the BJP is to avoid overconfidence in elections. Despite AAP’s efforts and independent contesting of 89 seats after disagreements with Congress, they are trailing significantly. Kejriwal urges AAP councillors to focus on basic issues like garbage collection for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls.