Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 1: Within two months of the completion of electoral process, the Election Commission of India will be required to hold two more elections in Jammu and Kashmir-first for four Rajya Sabha seats which will fall vacant in February 2015 and second for eight seats of Legislative Council. A total of 16 seats in the Council had to be filled by the end of March next year.
While eight seats in the Upper House had to be filled through elections, another eight were to be nominated by the Governor on recommendations of the new Government.
Official sources told the Excelsior that soon after new Government takes over in the State, most likely in the end of December or start of January as counting of votes for 87 Assembly segments will be completed on December 23, the Election Commission of India in the next few days will start the process for filling up four Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir.
Six years term of all four Rajya Sabha members-two of whom were also contesting the Assembly elections-will be over in the middle of February. The Election Commission of India could hold the elections for four seats by the end of January.
Presently, National Conference and Congress hold two seats each in Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir. However, the election of four Rajya Sabha members from J&K for next six years in February 2015 will depend on composition of the new Assembly, which will be constituted after counting of votes is completed on December 23 for all 87 seats of the State. Two women MLAs to be nominated in the Assembly can’t take part in Rajya Sabha elections but can vote for Legislative Council polls.
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 shout 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 from Jammu and Kashmir are Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Minister and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, PCC (I) chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz (both Congress), Mohammad Shaffi Uri and Ghulam Nabi Ratanpuri (both NC).
The NC has fielded Ratanpuri from Pulwama and Uri from Uri Assembly seats. The win or loss won’t impact the Rajya Sabha election as their term is expiring in February, sources said.
In January 2009, NC-Congress had won all four Rajya Sabha seats in view of their majority in the Assembly. NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah had also been elected to Rajya Sabha but he had resigned from the seat after being elected to Lok Sabha in May 2009. NC’s Ghulam Nabi Ratanpuri was elected to Rajya Sabha in his place.
Meanwhile, out of 16 seats falling vacant in the Legislative Council, eight were represented by National Conference, six by Congress, and one each by opposition PDP and NPP. While one seat has already fallen vacant with expiry of the term of Congress member Subash Gupta on April 1, 2014 in nomination quota, rest 15 seats will fall vacant in the last week of March and first week of April.
Election will be held for eight seats while rest eight MLCs will be nominated by the Governor on recommendations of the new Government.
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 remained vacant. It now will be filled by the new Government.
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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