Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 2: Like 11th Assembly, the 12th Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been kept under suspended animation by Governor NN Vohra, is unlikely to have the Leader of Opposition due to lack of numbers with two former coalition partners—National Conference and Congress—which were expected to sit in the Opposition as PDP-BJP combine was set to form the new Government in the State.
Official sources told the Excelsior that as per Leader of Opposition Act in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, the Opposition party must have 23 MLAs to get its Legislature Party leader designated as Leader of Opposition.
“The Opposition party must have MLAs equal to the number of Quorum in the Assembly i.e. 23 in the House of 89, which comes out to nearly one-fourth of total strength of the House to get the status of Leader of Opposition for its Legislature Party leader,’’ says the Act.
The Legislative Assembly of the State has strength of 87. However, the Government can nominate two women MLAs taking its strength to 89.
The Leader of Opposition gets the status and privileges equal to that of Cabinet Minister.
However, going by strength of four major parties in the 12th Legislative Assembly, only PDP and BJP were qualified to get their leaders designated as Leader of Opposition with 28 and 25 MLAs respectively but both the parties were likely to form next Government in the State leaving behind National Conference and Congress, the two former coalition partners, as Opposition parties with 15 and 12 MLAs respectively.
“None of the two parties (National Conference and Congress) will be eligible to get their Legislature Party leaders designated as Leader of Opposition in view of adequate numbers,’’ sources said, adding that under the Leader of Opposition Act, the post-poll combination can’t be considered for the status of Leader of Opposition.
In Parliament and other State Assemblies, the Opposition parties with 10 per cent MPs / MLAs of total strength of the House are eligible for the status of Leader of Opposition. In 543 members Lok Sabha, the Opposition party with 55 MPs is eligible for Leader of Opposition status for its Parliamentary Party leader. Similar is the position in all other State Assemblies.
However, Jammu and Kashmir has its own Act on Leader of Opposition under which an opposition party was required to have 23 MLAs i.e. about 25 per cent of total strength of the Assembly to get its leader the status of Opposition, which was prime reason that most of the times, Jammu and Kashmir had remained without the LoP.
“If Parliament and other State Assemblies’ Act was considered, the opposition party with just 9 MLAs in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly would be eligible for the status of Leader of Opposition,’’ sources said.
In 1996, the BJP and Congress had eight MLAs each and there was no LoP in the Assembly. The Congress strength was later reduced to seven after Mehbooba Mufti had resigned from the Congress to form PDP and BJP leader Lala Shiv Charan Gupta was called as Leader of main Opposition party.
However, the last time Jammu and Kashmir Assembly had the Leader of Opposition was in 2002 when National Conference with 28 MLAs had preferred to sit in the Opposition despite being single largest party in the Assembly and PDP-Congress had formed the coalition Government. As there was no Abdullah family member in 2002 Assembly in view of Omar Abdullah’s defeat in Ganderbal, the NC had appointed veteran politician Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Shah as Legislature Party leader and subsequently he was designated as Leader of Opposition. Following his death, Abdul Rahim Rather had served as the Leader of Opposition.
In 2008 Assembly, the PDP had emerged as second largest party behind National Conference with 21 MLAs and fell short by two MLAs to get Mehbooba Mufti officially recognized as Leader of Opposition. However, being the leader of largest Opposition party, Mehbooba used to be called in the meetings to make appointments of some important institutions like CVC, CIC, SAC chairperson and members etc to fill the post of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
In 12th Assembly, NC was likely to be the main Opposition party if PDP-BJP formed next Government in the State. NC has 15 MLAs and Congress 12 as against PDP’s 28 and BJP’s 25. Independents and Others comprised 7. Two women MLAs will be nominated to the Assembly once the new Government is in place.
All four major political parties—PDP, BJP, NC and Congress have not elected their Legislature Party leaders so far. In the event of PDP and BJP forming next Government, their Legislature Party leaders could be the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister respectively while NC Legislature Party leader will be the Leader of main Opposition party without status of the LoP.
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