Jammu University's General Zorawar Singh Auditorium, where the oath ceremony is to be held shortly. a
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the veteran leader of the People's Democratic Party, is shortly to take oath as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, bringing to an end the 49-day Governor's rule in the state. He is leading a historic alliance with the BJP, which will be part of a government in the state for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the ceremony, which is being held in Jammu.
Here are the latest developments:
A 25-member cabinet is expected to be sworn in during the ceremony at Jammu University's General Zorawar Singh Auditorium, sources told NDTV. BJP's Nirmal Singh is likely to be the Deputy Chief Minister.
The prominent faces in the cabinet are likely to be PDP leaders Haseeb Drabu, Abdul Rehman Veeri and Naeem Akhtar and BJP's Kavinder Gupta and Bali Bhagat.
Post-noon, the two parties are also expected to release the much-awaited Common Minimum Programme, or CMP, on basis of which they will govern the state.
The CMP is expected to clarify the stand of the two parties over contentious issues like Article 370, which gives special constitutional status to the state, and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA, which gives the Army the authority to make arrests without warrants.
There is still uncertainty over whether separatist-turned-politician and People's Conference leader Sajjad Lone will join the government.
This is Mr Sayeed's second stint as Chief Minister. He held the post between 2002 and 2005 in a rotational arrangement with then ally Congress.
On Friday, Mr Sayeed, 79, met PM Modi who accepted his invitation for the oath ceremony. Several Union ministers and BJP chief Amit Shah are also expected to attend.
Mr Sayeed's predecessor and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is unlikely to attend the function.
The PDP leader has dubbed the coalition -- which both sides had been arduously working towards for the last two months -- as a "bringing together of North Pole with South Pole".
In the December elections, J&K voted in a hung assembly. The PDP was the single largest party with 28 MLAs; the BJP was number 2 with 25. Together, they have an easy majority in the 87-member assembly.
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