Mehbooba is J-K’s first woman CM and India’s 16th

Mehbooba Mufti, who succeeded her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, became the 16th woman CM in post-Independent India after taking the oath of office on Monday.

Mehbooba Mufti, who succeeded her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, became the 16th woman CM in post-Independent India after taking the oath of office on Monday.

Mehbooba Mufti has joined the woman chief ministers’ club currently in office in four states. (AFP)

The 56-year-old president of Peoples Democratic Party will be the first woman to hold the top job in the Muslim-majority state since its accession to India in 1947.

She will be the second Muslim woman to head a state – the first was Syeda Anwara Taimur of the Congress who became the chief minister of Assam in 1980.

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Mehbooba has joined the woman chief ministers’ club currently in office in four states - Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Anandiben Patel (Gujarat), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan) and J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu).

Of the 29 states and seven Union territories, only 11 states and one UT have seen woman chief ministers in the last seven decades.

Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi have had two women chief ministers. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are yet to have a woman chief minister.

Watch | Mehbooba Mufti takes oath as J-K’s first woman CM