AFP/New Delhi

Kashmir was brought under New Delhi’s direct rule yesterday after political rivals failed

to agree on a power-sharing coalition, more than two weeks after elections in the

country’s only Muslim-majority state.
A federal government spokesman confirmed that President Pranab Mukherjee had placed

Governor N N Vohra in charge of the state, the 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 said 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 Kashmir for the time being, a particular sensitive issue in a region where rebels have

been fighting to secede from India since 1989.
It comes after the two parties which won the most seats—the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 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, mainly mopping up in the mainly Hindu Jammu

region in the south of the state.
Abdullah, who suffered a backlash over his government’s handling of devastating floods in

September, said it was vital the state not be left in “limbo”.
“I am sorry after an election with such a good turnout we have a situation of governor’s

rule but as I’ve maintained the onus lies with PDP,” he said on Twitter.
PDP spokesman Nayeem Akhtar said that the party was still in discussions with a range of

parties.
“It might lead to a brief spell of governor’s rule but ultimately a popular government has

to come and serve the state because the people have voted for the government,” Akhtar told

NDTV.