Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will soon nominate five members to the Legislative Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir. These nominated MLAs will have voting rights and can play a significant role in the formation of the government. The elections for 90 assembly seats were held in three phases and the results will be declared on October 8. Mr Sinha is likely to make the nominations immediately after the results are declared.
This effectively means that the Legislative Assembly will be having 95 members and 48 will constitute an absolute majority. Not 46 as was widely believed as elections were held for 90 seats earlier. Incidentally, it is for the first time that this is happening in J&K as in the 87-member House earlier, there were two additional nominated MLAs. Despite the House strength going up to 89, the nominated members were not eligible to vote for determining the majority of any government.
The five nominated MLAs will represent Kashmiri displaced persons and those from Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK). They too will hold full legislative powers and privileges, just like the other 90 elected representatives in the House.
According to official sources, two of the nominated MLAs will be Kashmiri displaced members, one man and one man. One nominated MLA will be chosen from among the POJK displaced community. This will be a significant milestone in terms of representation for these communities, as inclusion in the legislative assembly has been a long standing demand.
LG Manoj Sinha will make these nominations based on the advice received from the Union Home Ministry led by senior BJP leader Amit Shah. The process for the nomination has been laid in an amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. The Act had led to reorganisation of earlier state into two Union Territories (UTs) of J&K and UT of Ladakh. The Act was further revised in July 2023 to introduce these nominations of five MLAs.
This nomination process is something akin to what prevails in the UT of Pudducherry which has four nominated legislators. Incidentally, it needs to be mentioned here that the state of J&K had a bicameral legislature. However, after making J&K a UT, the Legislative Council (LC) was abolished.
After the results are declared on October 8, the process of government formation will start. However, going by the trend witnessed in past three assembly elections, no party may be in a position to get a simple majority of 48. It was coalition governments that were formed in 2002, after 2008 assembly elections and even after 2014 assembly elections.
The inclusion of Kashmiri migrants (mostly Kashmiri Pandits) and POJK displaced persons is being seen as a push towards addressing the unique issues faced by these communities. The nomination of KP members will ensure that their grievances get articulated forcefully in the assembly.
With the amendments in place, hectic behind the scenes lobbying is going on among political leaders aiming for these new seats. According to sources, many influential figures, including veterans from the BJP and prominent leaders from the POJK region, are pushing for getting these nominations. However, no names have been cleared by the BJP and been put in public domain so far.
Meanwhile, National Conference leader Rattan Lal Gupta has termed these nominations as unethical saying this is something unconstitutional as well. Mr Gupta, who is provincial president of the NC in the Jammu region, has voiced his objections to the whole nomination process.
Declaring the nominations by LG as undemocratic, Mr Gupta said it should be the prerogative of the elected government to nominate these five MLAs. He argued that all legislative powers should shift to an elected government in a normal democratic set-up and these powers should not be exercised by the LG.
Interestingly, party patriarch Farooq Abdullah, who is also its president, has not spoken anything about the nomination process. His son Omar Abdullah, vice president of the party, has also not said anything on this issue so far.
This is being interpreted by some political analysts as efforts by the NC not to say or do anything to burn its bridges with the BJP which rules at the Centre. The senior Abdullah has remained uncharacteristically silent throughout the campaign for the assembly elections. He has left it to his son Omar Abdullah to articulate the party’s stance on most issues.
In an interesting development, the NC has strongly refuted rumours circulating about alleged ‘back channel’ negotiations with political parties outside the India bloc. Some Kashmir based news portals had said earlier that the NC was talking unofficially to parties other than the Congress, with which it had a pre-poll alliance, to form the next government.
In a message on its social media handle, the party has categorically denied engaging in any such talks, labelling such reports as rumours and baseless. The party has accused its rivals of “spreading misinformation to distract the public’’.
Govt orders immediate repatriation of Legislative Assembly employees.
In another development, the General Administration Department (GAD) of Jammu & Kashmir government has ordered the repatriation of all legislative assembly. The GAD order has asked these assembly employees to report back to the assembly immediately.
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