Jammu And Kashmir Assembly Elections: Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing Assembly polls after a gap of a decade. The Assembly elections in the J&K were held in three phases, and the counting of votes began on Tuesday. Jammu and Kashmir is seeing a three-way contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress-National Conference Alliance, and People's Democratic Party (PDP).


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As per early trends, the Congress-NC alliance is having an edge over the BJP and PDP, and if things don't change much, the alliance will form the government in the valley.


The Congress-NC alliance is likely to win over 50 seats, and the BJP may bag 25 seats, whereas the PDP is likely to grab less than five seats, which suggests that the Mehbooba Mufti-led party is likely to remain out of the Chief Minister race.


As the results unfold in the J&K, a big question comes up: Who will be the new CM in Jammu and Kashmir, which is witnessing its first election following the abrogation of Article 370?


If the Congress-NC alliance maintains its momentum and defeats the BJP and PDP, here are some probable faces for the top post.


Farooq Abdullah


Farooq Abdullah is one of the leading faces to be the new CM of Jammu and Kashmir in case the Congress-NC alliance gets a chance to form government in the region. He has sat on the top post in the past and is the President of the National Conference.


Omar Abdullah (NC): 


Another probable face for the top post in Jammu and Kashmir is Omar Abdullah. He is one of the biggest names in the politics of the valley. He became the 11th and youngest Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of the J&K and youngest member of the Lok Sabha after forming a government in coalition with the Congress in 2009. He is currently the vice president of the NC.


Tariq Hameed Karra (Congress)


Tariq Hameed Karra is another probable face to lead the government in Jammu and Kashmir if Congress gets a chance to pick a CM candidate. 


If Congress gets a chance to pick a CM candidate from its party, Tariq Hameed Karra could be a name.He is serving as President of the Jammu Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee. He registered a victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha election as a Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDPD) candidate. He had defeated Farooq Abdullah of the NC. He joined the Congress in February 2017.


If things turn around in Jammu and Kashmir amid counting of votes and the BJP pulls up a surprise. Here are some probable faces for the top post.


Ravinder Raina (BJP)


If the BJP forms government in Jammu and Kashmir, its J&K unit president, Ravinder Raina, could be a probable choice. Son of Pushap Dutt, a resident of Lamberi, a village on the LoC in Nowshera Tehsil of Rajouri, Raina is a science graduate with a diploma in human rights and duties education. The 47-year-old spearheaded the election campaign of the saffron party in Jammu and Kashmir.


The voting for Jammu and Khmir 90 assembly constituencies was held over three phases: September 18, September 25, and October 1.