Jammu: Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which formed its first government on Wednesday after losing its special status following the repeal of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
The new cabinet led by the National Conference Vice President includes Javed Ahmad Dar, Javed Ahmed Rana, Sakina Itoo, Surender Choudhary, and Satish Sharma.
Sharma is a key figure of the Omar team since he represents the Jammu area and was elected as an independent from Chhamb after leaving the Congress party due to a denial of a ticket in the assembly elections.
The 42-year-old politician is also the lone non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Jammu District out of 11 MLAs.
Son of former Member of Parliament Madal Lal Sharma, he defeated the BJP candidate from the Chamb Assembly, Rajeev Sharma, with a margin of 6,929 votes.
Sharma was a well-known member of Congress before leaving to run as an independent. He was denied a ticket by the party in the recently concluded polls. Instead, it gave a ticket to former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, who finished in third place.
After the victory, Sharma extended his support to the NC and was inducted as a cabinet minister.
The BJP has secured 10 out of 11 seats in the Jammu district; only Sharma defeated the BJP in Jammu's Chamb seat. The seats in Jammu district include Suchetgarh, RS Pura-Jammu South, Bahu, Bishnah, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh, Akhnoor, and Chhamb.
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