New Delhi - Omar Abdullah, president of the National Conference party in India's northern Jammu and Kashmir, announced Tuesday that he will head the state's new coalition government with the Congress party.

The decision to form the alliance was taken in a meeting in Delhi between Abdullah and Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress party that heads India's ruling United Progressive Alliance.

Elections in the state concluded with the regional National Conference emerging as the largest party, but without securing an overall majority.

"It has been decided that I would head the coalition government of the National Conference and the Congress party in the state," Abdullah told reporters.

He said he would meet with state Governor NN Vohra before taking the oath as the new Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Abdullah, 38, will be the youngest chief minister in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, which has been hit by separatist militancy.

"It will be a government of partners. We are equal partners, we have an equal stake in the improvement of the lot of people of Jammu and Kashmir," Abdullah said.

Election results were declared Sunday, giving the National Conference 28 seats, while another regional party, the People's Democratic Party, obtained 21 seats in the
87-member legislature.

The Congress party and Bharatiya Janata party, both with national presence, won 17 and 11 seats respectively. Smaller parties secured 10 seats.

The seven-phase election saw a voter turnout of 62 per cent, the highest the state has seen in 20 years since the violent secessionist movement peaked in the late 1980s.

Voters in Jammu and Kashmir turned out in large numbers despite an election boycott call from separatist political parties that led violent demonstrations against the government earlier in the year.

"The large turnout is a vote for democracy. It is a vote for national unity," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

The state was under federal rule since August after a coalition government of the Congress Party and PDP collapsed over a land row.

Deep divisions surfaced between the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley and the Hindu-dominated Jammu region as the dispute over awarding government land to a Hindu pilgrimage trust snowballed into anti-India agitation in the valley.

The disputed Kashmir region is divided into two parts, one administered by India the other by Pakistan. The two countries have fought two wars over the disputed region.

More than 45,000 people have died in the violence over the past two decades. India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of aiding Kashmiri militants. Islamabad has denied the charge, calling the insurgents freedom fighters. (dpa)