Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 30: In another step towards formation of new Government in Jammu and Kashmir, the Law Department of the State Government today constituted 12th Legislative Assembly with 87 newly elected MLAs superseding 11th Assembly, which was scheduled to complete its term on January 20, 2015.
However, the new MLAs will take oath only after the next Government is formed and Governor NN Vohra appoints Pro-tem Speaker to administer oath to the MLAs.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Umang Narula told the Excelsior that under Jammu and Kashmir Act, the Law Department of the State Government had to issue notification for constitution of the Assembly. In other States, the Assemblies are constituted by the Election Commission.
Today was last day for completion of electoral process in the State, which included constitution of the new Assembly.
Official sources said the Law Department secured mandatory approval of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for constitution of 12th Assembly on fax from London, where he had gone to meet his ailing father and National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah.
After securing the Chief Minister’s approval on fax, the Law Department notified constitution of 12th Assembly in the State, which had 87 MLAs including 28 from PDP, 25 BJP, 15 NC, 12 Congress and 7 Others and Independents.
“The individual as well as collective orders have been issued on constitution of the 12th Assembly. The individual letters will be given to the MLAs informing them about their name in the Assembly while copies of collective letters would be sent to the President of India, the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission and other Constitutional authorities,” sources said.
According to sources, six years term of the Government is taken into account from first sitting of the Legislative Assembly, which had taken place on January 20, 2009. Therefore, the new Government had to be in place by January 19 or else the State would be placed under the Governor’s Rule.
Sources said the Governor had to appoint Pro-tem Speaker from among the 87 elected MLAs, who had to be the senior most. However, the Pro-tem Speaker is appointed by the Governor only after the new Government takes oath. If the political parties are unable to form the new Government by January 19, 2015, the Governor had the powers to himself impose his rule in the State for six months to avert the Constitutional crisis.
Last time, National Conference-Congress Government was sworn-in on January 5, 2009. The Governor had appointed veteran Congress leader Choudhary Aslam as the Pro-tem Speaker to administer oath to newly elected MLAs. Aslam was later elected as Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader. However, he passed away few months back and now his son Choudhary Akram has been elected as MLA from Aslam’s traditional Assembly segment of Surankote in Poonch district.
The Congress strength has gone down from 17 in the 11th Assembly to just 12 in the 12th Assembly while number of the NC MLAs has come down from 28 to 15. The BJP, which became a major force in the Assembly elections in the wake of unprecedented Modi wave, went up from just 11 in the 11th Assembly to 25 this time while PDP numbers also rose from 21 to 28. The NPP, which had three MLAs in the previous Assembly, drew a blank this time while number of Independents and Others remained static at 7.
The new Government had the powers to nominate two women MLAs in the Assembly. The previous Government had nominated Indu Pawar (Congress) and Bimla Luthra (NC).
Sources said only once the new Government takes over, the Governor would give them time to take trust vote in the Assembly.
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