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Jammu and Kashmir National Conference
Abbreviation	JKNC (National)
President	Farooq Abdullah
Chairperson	Omar Abdullah
Rajya Sabha Leader	Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan
Lok Sabha Leader	Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi
Founder	Sheikh Abdullah &Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas
Founded	15 October 1932 (93 years ago) (1932-10-15)[1]
Headquarters	Nawa-e-sueb,Srinagar,Jammu and Kashmir
Student wing	National Conference Students' Union
Youth wing	Youth National Conference
Ideology	Kashmiriyat Jammu and Kashmir statehood Social democracy Regionalism Civic nationalism
Political position	Centre-left
ECI Status	State Party[2]
Alliance	National Alliance INDIA (since 2023) Former Alliances UPA (2008–2015), (2019-2023)(till dissolved)) (National) People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (2019–2024) (State Level) National Democratic Alliance (1998-2002) (India)
Seats in Rajya Sabha	3 / 245
Seats in Lok Sabha	2 / 543
Seats in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly	41 / 90
Seats in District Development Council	67 / 280
Number of states and union territories in government	1 / 31
Election symbol
Plough
Website
www.jknc.co.in
Politics of India Political parties Elections

TheJammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) is a regional political party in Indian-administeredJammu and Kashmir union territory andLadakh. Founded as the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference bySheikh Abdullah andChaudhry Ghulam Abbas in 1932 in theprincely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the organisation renamed itself to National Conference in 1939 in order to represent all the people of the state. It supported the accession of the princely state to India in 1947. Prior to that, in 1941, a group led by Ghulam Abbas broke off from the National Conference and revived theold Muslim Conference. Therevived Muslim Conference supported the accession of the princely state to Pakistan and led the movement forAzad Kashmir.^[3]

Since 1947, the National Conference was in power in Jammu and Kashmir in one form or another till 2002, and again between 2009 and 2015. It implemented land reforms in the state, ensured the state's autonomy underArticle 370 of the Indian Constitution, and formulated a separateConstitution of Jammu and Kashmir in 1957. Sheikh Abdullah's sonFarooq Abdullah (1981–2002, 2009–present) and grandsonOmar Abdullah (2002–2009) have led the party after Sheikh Abdullah's death as the president. The party was a member of thePeople's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration electoral alliance.

On 15 October 1932,Sheikh Abdullah founded the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference in collaboration withMirwaiz Yusuf Shah andChaudhry Ghulam Abbas. On 11 June 1939 it was renamed as the All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference. This prompted a section of the leadership to break away and re-establish theMuslim Conference, with links to theAll-India Muslim League.^[4] The National Conference was affiliated to theAll India States Peoples Conference. Sheikh Abdullah was elected its president in 1947. In 1946, the National Conference launched an intensive agitation against the state government. It was directed against theMaharaja of Jammu and Kashmir,Hari Singh. The slogan of the agitation was "Quit Kashmir".

In the elections held in September 1951, National Conference won all 75 seats of theConstituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah remainedprime minister until his dismissal in August 1953 on the grounds of conspiracy against the state of India.Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad became prime minister of the state, and Sheikh Abdullah was arrested on 9 August 1953.

In 1965, the National Conference merged with theIndian National Congress (INC) and became the Jammu and Kashmir branch of the Indian National Congress. Sheikh Abdullah was again arrested in 1965 until 1968 for conspiracy against the state. Sheikh Abdullah's splinterPlebiscite Front faction later appropriated the name of the original party when Abdullah was allowed to return to power in February 1975 after striking a deal with the central government. In 1977, the National Conference he led won the state assembly elections, and Sheikh Abdullah became chief minister. His sonFarooq Abdullah succeeded him as the chief minister on his death on 8 September 1982. In June 1983 elections, the JKNC, led by Farooq Abdullah, again won a comfortable majority.

In July 1984, Farooq's brother-in-lawGhulam Mohammad Shah split the party. Acting on the behest of the central government, the governor dismissed Farooq as chief minister and replaced him withGhulam Mohammad Shah. His government was dismissed in March 1986 and presidential rule was imposed. In the contested state assembly elections of 1987, the JKNC formed an alliance with the INC, and was declared to have won a majority. Farooq Abdullah again became chief minister and on Abdullah's watch an insurgency against the state government and India began. Abdullah was dismissed again in 1990 by the union government and presidential rule was imposed in the state.^[5] In 1991, the state elections were cancelled due to a revolt by the people.

In theJammu and Kashmir state assembly elections in 1996, the JKNC led by Abdullah was awarded the election yet again winning 57 seats out of a total 87. Like its predecessors, this election has been deemed to be rigged and Abdullah stepped down in 2000. His son, Omar Abdullah then took up the reins of power in the state. But in 2002 state assembly elections, the JKNC won only 28 seats, with theJammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party (PDP) emerging in the Kashmir Valley as a contender for power. In the December 2008 state assembly elections, no single party was able to get the majority. The JKNC led by Farooq's sonOmar Abdullah emerged as a single largest party, winning 28 seats. After the elections, on 30 December 2008 the JKNC formed an alliance with the INC which had won 17 seats.^[6][7] Omar Abdullah became the chief minister of thiscoalition government on 5 January 2009.^[8]

JKNC and INC contested2009 general election in alliance. INC won all the two seats of Jammu region but lost Ladakh seat to NC rebel who contested as an independent candidate. NC won all the three seats of theKashmir Valley in 2009.^[6]

During this period, the JKNC has experienced increasing controversies over the Accession of Kashmir to India. Protests against the government in 2010 when approximately 100 protesters (one as young as 11) were killed as the result of live ammunition being fired by state paramilitary forces.^[9][10] A torture scandal was exposed by theWikiLeaks, revelations which were subsequently aired onChannel 4.^{[11][clarification needed]}

In the2014 general election, the NC contested the election in an alliance withIndian National Congress but did not win a single seat. Out of six seats in the state, PDP andBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won three each.^[6][12]

During the2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election, INC broke its alliance with JKNC.^[6] JKNC contested all the assembly seats but won only 15 seats, a decrease of 13 seats. PDP won 28 seats and became the largest party in the assembly followed by BJP winning 25 seats.^[13] Omar Abdullah resigned as a chief minister on 24 December 2014.^[14]In2024 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election, J&K National Conference won 42 seats in total, while BJP came second with 29 seats won andOmar Abdullah became the chief minister of theUnion Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.^[15]

The flag of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference had its origin in events on 13 July 1931 inSrinagar, whenKashmiri Muslims were protesting outside the Srinagar Central Jail premises atSrinagar where Abdul Qadeer was arrested on the charge of inciting public against theMaharaja of Jammu and Kashmir by Dogra state forces.^[16][17] The blood-tainted shirt of one of the victims was then hoisted by the crowd as thenew flag of Kashmir.On 11 July 1939, the flag was adopted by the JKNC as its official flag.

After the abrogation ofArticle 370 on August 5, 2019, which revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status, theJammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) has been advocating for its restoration. In their 2024 election manifesto, the party pledged to fight for the reinstatement of Article 370 and the region's statehood. They also proposed repealing post-2019 laws that they argue adversely impact the region's autonomy. Additionally, the JKNC aims to encourage dialogue between India and Pakistan to address theKashmir issue^[18]

The revocation of Article 370 was part of theBharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) efforts to fully integrateJammu and Kashmir into India, a move that has faced significant opposition from local political parties like the JKNC.^{[citation needed]} The National Conference's current leadership, includingOmar Abdullah, has reiterated their determination to pursue statehood and autonomy through legal and political channels.^{[citation needed]}

DDC Elections 2020In the 2020 District Development Council (DDC) elections, the JKNC won several seats in South Kashmir, including Pulwama district, as part of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).

JKNC candidateMukhtar Ahmad Bandh was elected from Litter constituency and subsequently chosen as the Vice-Chairperson of the Pulwama District Development Council in February 2021.^[19]

The2024 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections were scheduled to be held in three phases: September 18, September 25, and October 1, 2024. This was the first election since the revocation of the special status in 2019. The election decided 90 seats in the assembly.^[20]

The results were announced on October 8, 2024. Key parties contesting include:The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC),Indian National Congress (INC), andJammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)^[20]

After Jammu and Kashmir elections

The party secured a record 42 seats,^[21] being the single largest party in the territory, and it was followed by the BJP with 29 seats.^[22] The party has also passed the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir autonomy resolution in the assembly.

Prime ministers of Jammu and Kashmir
No.[a]	Name	Portrait	Constituency	Tenure[23]
				1	Sheikh Abdullah		–	5 March 1948	31 October 1951	3 years, 240 days
31 October 1951	9 August 1953	1 year, 282 days
3	Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad		Safa Kadal	9 August 1953	25 March 1957	3 years, 228 days
				25 March 1957	18 February 1962	4 years, 330 days
				18 February 1962	12 October 1963	1 year, 297 days
4	Khwaja Shamsuddin		Anantnag	12 October 1963	29 February 1964	140 days

Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
No.[b]	Name	Portrait	Constituency	Tenure[23]
				From	To	Days in office
1	Sheikh Abdullah		MLC	25 February 1975	26 March 1977	2 years, 29 days
2			Ganderbal	9 July 1977	8 September 1982	5 years, 61 days
3	Farooq Abdullah			8 September 1982	24 November 1983	1 year, 77 days
				24 November 1983	2 July 1984	221 days
4				7 November 1986	23 March 1987	136 days
				23 March 1987	19 January 1990	2 years, 302 days
5				9 October 1996	18 October 2002	6 years, 9 days
6	Omar Abdullah			5 January 2009	8 January 2015	6 years, 3 days
7				16 October 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 39 days

Sr. No.	Photo	Name	Took office	Left office
Deputy prime minister of the Jammu and Kashmir
1		Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad	5 March 1948	9 August 1953
Deputy chief ministers state of the Jammu and Kashmir
1		Mirza Afzal Beg	1974	1977
2		Devi Das Thakur	2 July 1984	6 March 1986
3		Surinder Kumar Choudhary	16 October 2024	Incumbent

No.	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Portfolio	Ministry	Prime minister
				From	To	Period
1			Omar Abdullah (born 1970) MP forSrinagar (MoS)	22 July 2001	23 December 2002	1 year, 154 days	Minister of State in Ministry of External Affairs	Vajpayee III	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
2			Farooq Abdullah (born 1937) MP forSrinagar	29 May 2009	26 May 2014	4 years, 362 days	Ministry of New and Renewable Energy	Manmohan II	Manmohan Singh

== List of current Lok Sabha members ==

== List of current Rajya Sabha members ==

• Article 370 of the Constitution of India
• Politics of Jammu and Kashmir
• Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party
• Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party
• Jammu and Kashmir Workers Party
• Ikkjutt Jammu
• Bharatiya Janata Party
• Indian National Congress
• Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference
• Democratic Azad Party
• List of political parties in India

• Bose, Sumantra (2003),Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Harvard University Press,ISBN 0-674-01173-2
• Parashar, Parmanand (2004),Kashmir and the Freedom Movement, Sarup & Sons,ISBN 978-81-7625-514-1
• Rai, Mridu (2004),Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir, C. Hurst & Co,ISBN 1850656614
• Schofield, Victoria (2003) [First published in 2000],Kashmir in Conflict, London and New York: I. B. Taurus & Co,ISBN 1860648983
• Zutshi, Chitralekha (2004),Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers,ISBN 978-1-85065-700-2

• Jammu & Kashmir National Conference Party Website
• Chowdhary, Rekha."Electoral Politics in the Context of Separatism and Political Divergence: An Analysis of 2009 Parliamentary elections in Jammu & Kashmir".South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 3, 2009.

• Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
• State political parties in Jammu and Kashmir
• Political parties established in 1939
• Regionalist parties in India
• 1939 establishments in India
• Member parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance

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