A major dispute erupted before today’s vote counting since the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir had the authority to propose five people for the parliament. Giving the lieutenant governor such authority, according to the Congress, the National Conference, Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), and others, is a betrayal of the people’s will because the BJP stands to gain.
According to the parties, exit polls have confirmed their fears. While a hung jury has been expected by exit surveys, the Congress-National Conference coalition is leading the race.
Jammu & Kashmir has never been governed by the BJP alone, despite the party running alone in the election. It had partnered with the PDP to create government following the 2014 election, but it left the coalition in 2018. The state was split into Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, two Union Territories, and Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted Jammu and Kashmir its unique status, was repealed the next year. In Jammu and Kashmir, this is the first assembly election in ten years.
Non-BJP parties contend that the BJP has an opportunity to create administration in the former state due to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s exceptional authority to designate five members.
The BJP had some advantage because to delimitation, since the Jammu area received 43 seats compared to Kashmir’s 47. The parties claim that the BJP could have a significant edge if it had five more MPs.
Following the Delimitation Commission’s increase in the number of Union Territory seats, a new regulation gave the Lieutenant Governor the authority to propose five members to the Legislative Assembly, including two women, two Kashmiri Pandits, and a displaced person from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). This brought the total number of seats to 95 and the majority mark to 48, up from 46.
These five nominated MLAs “will hold full legislative powers and privileges, just like elected representatives,” the order had said.
The Congress ad vehemently opposed the move, saying “Any such move is an assault on democracy, the people’s mandate, and the fundamental principles of the Constitution”.
The National Conference has said it will approach the Supreme Court if this happens. “What they want to do, I do not know. However, if they do it, we will go to the Supreme Court. What is the point in making the government, if the Lord Sahib remains here? We have to fight against all this,” party patriarch and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah said.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti said that “brazen pre-result rigging” of the polls had occurred when the Lieutenant Governor was given the authority to designate five members.
“The five MLAs that LG nominated are all either affiliated with or members of the BJP. Embarrassing manipulation and brazen pre-result rigging,” the user wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
