The votes are in and officials have begun counting ballots cast in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections — the first in the region since Article 370 was abrogated. All eyes are on the Union Territory with its 90 seats up for grabs where parties have to attain the magical number of 46 to emerge victorious in the polls.
However, as votes are being counted in this neck-to-neck race, the focus has turned to the issue of nominated Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), with the Congress, the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) opposing it during government formation.
What’s going on? What’s the matter about these five MLAs? How can they affect the outcome of the elections? We have the answers for you.
Matter of the 5 MLAs
When the region was reorganised under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the legislation held a section according to which the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir “may nominate two members to the Legislative Assembly to give representation to women.” This provision would be exercised by the LG if they felt that the Assembly lacked adequate representation of the women.
However, in 2023, this was amended. An addition was made allowing for the nomination of three more members to the Assembly. Two members from the Kashmiri migrant community, one of whom is to be a woman, and one member from the “displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir”.
The nominations are at the discretion of the LG, meaning he, Manoj Sinha, can select any five individuals. However, some note that the LG’s nomination would be based on the advice of the Union Home Ministry.
The law, however, isn’t clear if these members would have voting rights and could participate in government formation. But as the Jammu-Kashmir Assembly is modelled on the Puducherry Assembly, it seems that these nominated MLAs would then be given voting rights.
Why this matters
The nomination of five MLAs by the LG is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, it changes the dynamics of the Assembly.
How?
Currently, the J-K Assembly is of 90 seats where the halfway mark is set at 45. However, if these MLAs are selected and given voting rights, the number of MLAs in the House increases to 95 and the halfway mark moves to 48.
What this means is that the NC-Congress will need 48 MLAs, rather than the previous 45, to form the government. On the other hand, with five MLAs supporting the BJP, the saffron party would require only 43 MLAs to reach the majority mark.
Secondly, the addition of five MLAs could change the dynamics of the House if it comes to a hung Assembly, which many exit polls are predicting could be the result of today’s counting. Poll pundits note that these five MLAs could swing the results in the favour of the BJP.
Parties Speak
This move has not gone down well with the opposition, namely the Congress and the National Conference.
The Congress in the Union Territory likened it to electoral fraud, with Ravinder Sharma, spokesman of the party saying, “The right to form a new government lies with the elected MLAs of whichever party or coalition gains a majority in the elections. Any nominations contemplated before the government formation in J&K UT would be a fraud on democracy and the people’s mandate.”
The Abdullahs-led National Conference also held similar views. “These powers cannot be exercised by the LG in the absence of an elected body,” NC’s provincial president, Jammu, Rattan Lal Gupta said.
Moreover, Farooq Abdullah said he would even consider going to the Supreme Court against this move. “The LG should first of all stay away from this process as a government is being formed. It is for the government to nominate people and send (nominations) to the LG. That is the normal procedure.
“What they want to do, I do not know. However, if they do it, we will go to the Supreme Court. What is the point in making the government, if the Lord Sahib remains here? We have to fight against all this,” Abdullah was quoted as saying in Srinagar.
Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra also added that any such move would amount to “rigging the poll results”, contrary to the basic concept of democracy and defeating the mandate of the people.
Meanwhile, the Jammu-Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina said the nomination of the five MLAs by the LG was by the Reorganisation Act. He further claimed that the BJP will emerge as the single largest party in the region by securing 35 seats and will form the government with the help of like-minded and independent candidates.
The BJP’s vice president in the UT went further and added that the five names had already been finalised with NDTV quoting Sofi Yousuf as saying, “thappa lag giya (it has been sealed)”.
According to him, the candidates are BJP state secretary Ashok Koul, former BJP women’s wing state president Rajni Sethi, state secretary Dr Fareeda Khan and party spokesperson Sunil Sethi. “The fifth one is a refugee, the president of our Mahila Morcha. All of them are ours,” Sofi Yousuf told Greater Kashmir in an interview.
Legally Speaking
At the heart of the issue is the timing of the nomination of these five MLAs; can they be nominated during government formation or does it have to be done with the advice of the Council of Ministers, meaning post results.
Supreme Court advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey is of the opinion that the matter was “unclear” on whether the nominated MLAs will have a role in the government formation.
Former judge of Delhi High Court Justice SN Dhingra (retired) said one should wait for the actual results. However, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan was of the opinion that the Centre should not interfere in the political process in the Union Territory. He further added that the situation in Puducherry could not be likened to that in Jammu and Kashmir.
With inputs from agencies
Link to article –
Jammu-Kashmir Assembly election results: How LG nominating 5 MLAs could shift balance of power
