Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 4: Not only the Assembly elections, the Election Commission of India had to conduct another major exercise thereafter to fill up four vacancies of Rajya Sabha and 8 in the Legislative Council within a couple of months after the completion of Assembly polls in the State. Seven more vacancies in the Council had to be filled by the Governor on the recommendations of the State Government.
The elections to Rajya Sabha as well as Legislative Council were likely to be held simultaneously in February-March as all vacancies to them would be arising out in the same months next year.
Of four Rajya Sabha seats, NC-Congress coalition partners hold two each while out of 15 seats falling vacant in the Legislative Council, eight were represented by National Conference, five by Congress, and one each by opposition PDP and NPP. Nominated Congress member Subash Gupta had retired from the membership of Upper House on April 1, 2014 and the vacancy has not been filled so far.
Legislative Council Chairman Amrit Malhotra of Congress and Deputy Chairman Javed Ahmad Rana of National Conference were among those MLCs, who would be completing their term after the Assembly elections.
Jammu and Kashmir has four Rajya Sabha seats, the elections to which are held after every six years. As per normal practice, one third members of the Rajya Sabha should retire after every two years. However, this is not the case in Jammu and Kashmir, where all four members retire after six years and the vacancies are filled simultaneously.
Four Rajya Sabha members retiring in Jammu and Kashmir next year are Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Minister and PCC (I) chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz (both Congress), Mohammad Shaffi Uri and Ghulam Nabi Ratanpuri (both NC).
All of them would complete their term in February. Initially, NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah had been elected as the Rajya Sabha member in February 2009 but he contested the Lok Sabha election from Srinagar in May 2009 and won. Thereafter, he had vacated Rajya Sabha seat, which was won by NC leader Ratanpuri.
In addition to four Rajya Sabha seats, 15 seats would be falling vacant in the Legislative Council in March-April. Of 15 seats, election would be held for eight while seven other seats fall in Nomination quota.
Fifteen members of Legislative Council retiring in March-April next year are Council Chairman Amrit Malhotra (Congress-Nominated), Deputy Chairman Javed Ahmad Rana (National Conference-Nominated), Planning and Development Minister Ajay Sadhotra (National Conference-Nominated), Ajatshatru Singh (National Conference-Elected), Bashir Ahmad Magray (Congress-Nominated) Aga Sayeed (National Conference-Elected), B R Kundal (Congress-Elected), Khalid Nujeeb Suhrawardhy (National Conference-Elected), Nurbo Gyaltsan (Congress-Elected), Ravinder Sharma (Congress-Nominated), Rafiq Ahmad Shah (Nationalist Panthers Party-Elected), Ghulam Qadir Pardesi (National Conference-Nominated), Sheikh Ghulam Rasool (Congress-Nominated), Vijay Bakaya (National Conference-Elected) and Syed Asgar Ali (PDP-Elected).
Congress leader Subash Gupta (Nominated) had completed his term on April 1 this year and his post is lying vacant.
Sources said the election of four candidates in Rajya Sabha, eight in Legislative Council and nomination of seven members in the Council would depend on composition of the next Assembly and the party or parties, which form next Government in the State after the Assembly elections, which were due in November-December this year.
The Government can fill one vacancy arising out of the retirement of Congress MLC Subash Gupta, who belonged to the Congress.
NC Congress alliance had won all four Rajya Sabha seats in February 2009 as they enjoyed majority in the Assembly. Similarly, whichever Government is in power would have the powers to nominate 7 MLCs in March next year for a term of six years.
However, elections to eight posts of MLCs would be conducted by the Election Commission of India along with four seats of Rajya Sabha.
The Legislative Council has a total strength of 36. Of them, 22 members are elected by the MLAs (11 each from Jammu and Kashmir divisions) with one seat each reserved for Leh, Doda and Poonch. Eight members to the Council are nominated by the Governor on the recommendations of the Government. Four MLCs (two each from Jammu and Kashmir divisions) are elected by the Panchayat members while two MLCs (one each from Jammu and Kashmir divisions) are elected by the members of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
In 36 members Council, there are three vacancies, two from the quota of ULBs and one arising out of the retirement of Congress nominated MLC Subash Gupta.
Elections to ULBs were last held in January 2005 and the ULB members had elected two MLCs few months later including Nizam-ud-Din Bhat of PDP from Kashmir and Arvinder Singh Micky of Congress from Jammu, Bhat had quit the Upper House membership in 2009 after he was elected to the Assembly while Micky had completed his term in November 2011.
As the ULB elections were not held despite being due in January 2010, the posts of two MLCs from their quota remained vacant.
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