J&K to lose representation in Rajya Sabha

With the term of four Rajya Sabha members from J&K coming to end during the current budget session, J&K will have no representation in the Council of States first time in the past 27 years.

News agency KNS quoting sources said that the term of 4 Rajya Sabha members belonging to J&K is coming to end during the current budget session.

   

The appointment of new members to Rajya Sabha could be done only through the voting by the Assembly members.  In J&K, however, the Assembly has been dissolved and no notification so far issued by the Central Government regarding holding of Assembly elections.

Political observers believe that after the expiration of the term of these Rajya Sabha members, representation of Jammu and Kashmir in the Council of States will end. According to political observers, such a situation will occur for the first time in the last 27 years when Jammu and Kashmir will not have representation in the Rajya Sabha. “To prevent such a situation it would be inevitable for the Central Government to hold Assembly elections in J&K”.

When the situation in Jammu and Kashmir deteriorated in 1989 at the outbreak of militancy, the then state of Jammu and Kashmir was brought under Governor’s Rule.   Political observers said that due to imposition of Governor’s Rule, J&K was not represented in the Rajya Sabha from April 1994 to October 1996 as the term of the RS members from J&K had come to an end. “And today, after almost 27 years, the similar situation has arisen when the term of opposition leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Fayyaz Ahmed Mir in Rajya Sabha on February 10, 2021 and the term of Nazir Ahmed Laway of PDP and Shamshir Singh Manhas of BJP is coming to an end on February 15, 2021.”

Opposition parties have also started pressurising the central government on the issue of holding immediate assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and restoring the state status to J&K. Meanwhile, the main opposition parties have prepared a bill to restore the status of Jammu and Kashmir.  The issue of bringing it in Parliament has posed a new challenge to the central government. Sources said that due to the absence of Assembly members in Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir’s representation in the council of states in the Parliament remain “suspended” till the next Assembly elections.

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