J&K Congress Monday directed its Councilors to abstain from voting on no-confidence motion moved by an impendent councilor against Srinagar Mayor, Junaid Mattu.
The party President, GA Mir said the party decided to abstain from the voting after threadbare discussions.
“We have 16 councilors elected and one associate member. We have issued the whip asking all members to abstain the proceedings,” he said.
He said the no confidence motion has the “backing” of the BJP.” “At a time when world is facing COVID pandemic, the BJP is playing dirty politics. We don’t want to be part of it,” Mir said.
Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Saturday issued a notification calling special session of the General Council of Corporation on June 16.
The session was called after some councilors moved the no-confidence motion against the Srinagar Mayor.
The session will commence on Tuesday at 11am followed by the voting wherein the Mayor will face floor test, said an official.
The SMC has strength of seventy councilors. “It is mandatory that more than half of the corporators should be present to make the quorum to take up business of the general session. Presently, the SMC has seventy corporators and 36 members will make the quorum,” said SMC Commissioner, Gazanfar Ali.
On June 11, an independent Coporator moved the no-confidence motion against the Mayor. Accompanied by some other Corporators, he submitted the no-confidence motion to the Commissioner SMC for initiating the process.
This is the second such motion in less than six months against the Srinagar Mayor. In December 2019, the no-confidence motion was moved against Mattu which was supported by BJP. However, the Mayor had successfully proved the numbers on the floor.
On 23 December 2019, Deputy Mayor Sheikh Imran was removed from the post after he lost the floor test, with majority of corporators voting against him.