Parties cry foul over J&K L-G’s power to nominate 5 members to assembly

The lieutenant governor’s powers to nominate five members to the Jammu and Kashmir assembly over and above the 90 elected members has caused an upheaval in the union territory as it will increase the assembly’s strength to 95 and the effective majority mark to 48.
The results for the recently held assembly elections will be declared on Tuesday and the timing of the move has attracted sharp reactions from political parties, particularly the National Conference (NC)-Congress alliance which is looking to form the government.
The recent exit polls have given an edge to the combine in the 90 member assembly but did not predict a clear majority for them. In case of a hung assembly, the role of these members who will have voting rights will be significant in government formation. However, if the NC-Congress combine gets past the majority mark, the numbers will turn redundant.
With the BJP’s local unit vice-president Sofi Yousuf, the party’s candidate from Bijbehara, said L-G Manoj Sinha will in consultation with the home ministry nominate five members, adding, “The nominated members will all be from the BJP.”
Read more: Jammu and Kashmir election results 2024 today: Hung assembly, BJP’s win or return of Congress-NC government?
The NC-Congress alliance has since dubbed the move as a plan to subvert democracy.
After Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was revoked and the region split into two union territories in 2019, the delimitation in 2022 increased the assembly seats to 90. The panel gave Jammu six additional seats (43 total) and Kashmir was given one (47 total), sparking allegations from the Opposition that the balance was tilting in favour of Hindu-majority Jammu.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, and the subsequent amendment bill in 2023 gave the L-G additional powers, including that to nominate five members to the assembly — two women members, two migrants including a woman and one member from displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
Yousuf went as far as naming the people who will be nominated by the L-G, adding that the BJP will form the government.
“Our general secretary, Ashok Koul, is there. Rajni Sethi, state women head, Farida Khan, state secretary, Sunil Sethi chairman disciplinary committee and party spokesman and Geeta Thakur who is president of Mahila Morcha. They all belong to the BJP,” Yousuf said, adding since the BJP was in power at the Centre, the members will be from BJP.
There has been no word on the nomination of five legislators from the L-G office, but the Opposition parties have maintained that the L-G can only nominate members on the advice of the elected government.
BJP leaders close to the Raj Bhawan, however, said the five legislators will be nominated within a couple of days and will have voting rights on the pattern of Pondicherry with the Supreme Court upholding their voting rights.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh said the BJP was playing desperate games to engineer a majority, adding, “Facing imminent defeat, the BJP is playing desperate games to engineer a majority and hoping for a hung assembly to aid them in their subterfuge. They know that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have given a clear mandate to the Congress-NC alliance. We will do everything in our power to thwart such nefarious designs.”
Another Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP, KC Venugopal, said there was a clear danger to the people’s mandate in Jammu and Kashmir. “The misuse of institutions and the Centre’s powers to alter the mandate will not be tolerated,” he said.
The party’s local unit president Tariq Hamid Karra termed the nomination of members “undemocratic”, saying it was an arbitrary authority given to the L-G. “In the Indian Constitution, it is clear that even the President of India cannot select any member arbitrarily. They need to take advice from the government which is represented by the cabinet. If similar power has been given to L-G, it’s not only undemocratic but also unconstitutional.”
Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti echoed the sentiment, calling it “pre result rigging”.
“All of the five MLAs nominated by L-G are BJP members or associated with the party. Brazen pre result rigging and shameful manipulation. Might as well have nominated all 90 members instead. Why even hold elections? 1987s stolen election took J&K to the brink. Yet no lessons learnt?,” Mufti wrote on X.
Former chief minister and NC president Farooq Abdullah said only the elected government will have powers to nominate five members. “The elected government only has powers to nominate members,” he told media persons.