Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly

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Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
Type Unicameral
Legislature 13th Jammu and Kashmir Assembly
Term limits 5 years
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather
Deputy Speaker Vacant
Chief Minister
(Leader of the House) 		Omar Abdullah
Members 90+5 (5 nominated by LG)
Structure Template:Switcher






Meeting place Legislative Assembly, Srinagar (Summer session)
Session room The Speaker, Lok Sabha, Smt. Meira Kumar addressing the Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India, at Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir on June 20, 2010.jpg
Website Template:URL

The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly is the legislative arm of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. At present, it consists of 95 members, directly elected from 95 constituencies. The tenure of the Legislative Assembly is five years unless dissolved sooner.

Prior to 2019, the State of Jammu and Kashmir had a bicameral legislature with a legislative assembly (lower house) and a legislative council (upper house). The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, passed by the Parliament of India in August 2019, replaced this with a unicameral legislature while also re-organising the state into a union territory.[1] The current 13th assembly was elected in September and October 2024.

History

Praja Sabha

The first legislature of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, called the Praja Sabha, was established by the government of the Maharaja Hari Singh in 1934.[2] It had 33 elected seats, 30 nominated members and 12 ex-officio members.[3]

The first election in 1934 saw the Liberal Group headed by Pandit Ram Chander Dubey emerge as the largest party and the Muslim Conference as the second largest (with 14 seats).[4] Further elections were held in 1938 and 1947.

In 1939, the Muslim Conference party renamed itself to National Conference under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah and opened its membership to people of all religions. It launched a Quit Kashmir movement in 1946 and boycotted the 1947 election.[5]

Post-accession

After the accession of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947, the Maharaja ceded powers to a popular government headed by Sheikh Abdullah. Elections for a constituent assembly were held in 1951, in which Abdullah's National Conference won all 75 seats.

In 1957, a new constitution was adopted by the constituent assembly, which established a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council and a lower house, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.[6] Wali Mohammad Itoo of the National Conference was speaker of the assembly between 7 July 1983 and 31 July 1984.[7]

Union Territory (with legislation)

In 2019, Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was abrogated[8] and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed to reconstitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh with effect from 31 October 2019.[9] The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has a unicameral Legislative Assembly. The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council was formally abolished on 31 October 2019.[10][11]

In March 2020, a three-member Delimitation Commission was formed, chaired by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, for the delimitation of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.[12] The commission published its interim report in February 2022.[13] The final delimitation report was released on 5 May 2022[14] and it came into force from 20 May 2022.[15]

The first elections to the reconstituted assembly with 90 elected seats were held in September 2024.

Composition

Initial Composition

The Legislative Assembly was initially composed of 100 members, later increased to 111 by the then Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir (Twentieth Amendment) Act of 1988.[6] Of these, 24 seats were designated for the territorial constituencies of the state that came under Pakistani control in 1947.[6] These seats remained officially vacant as per section 48 of the then state constitution and now also in The Constitution of India.[6] These seats were not taken into account for reckoning the total membership of the assembly, especially for deciding quorum and voting majorities for legislation and government formation.[6] Hence the total contestable and filled seats of the assembly were 87 seats. The Kashmir Valley region had 46 seats, the Jammu region had 37 seats, and Ladakh region had 4 seats.

State Reorganisation and Delimitation

Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed to reconstitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.[9] In March 2020, Delimitation Commission was formed for the delimitation of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir prior to the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election.[12] The delimitation report added additional 6 seats to the Jammu division and 1 seat to Kashmir division. After delimitation, the total seats in the assembly rose to a total of 119 seats with 114 elected seats, out of which 24 seats are designated for areas that fall under Pakistan-administered Kashmir and 5 seats are to be nominated by the Lt. Governor of UT. Out of the remaining 90 seats, 43 seats are in Jammu division and 47 seats are in the Kashmir division. With this, hindu majority Jammu with a population of 53 lakh (43% of the total population of 1.22 crore) will have 47% seats, while muslim majority Kashmir which has a population of 68 lakh (56%) will have 52% of the seats.[14]

Reservation for SC/STs

The parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2023 which provides for reservation of 7 seats for the Scheduled Castes and 9 seats for the Scheduled Tribes.[16][17]

Provisions for Nominated Members

Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 provides for nomination of 2 members to the Legislative Assembly by the Lieutenant Governor if women are not adequately represented in the house.[18] Following amendment to the Act in 2023, the Lieutenant Governor may also nominate two representatives of Kashmiri migrant families (one seat reserved for woman) and one member to represent the migrants from Pakistan-administered Kashmir,[19] presently making the total number of nominated members maximum five.

Tenure and functions

Members of the Legislative Assembly were elected for a six-year term up to 2019 and five-year term thereafter. The seats are filled by direct election from single member constituencies using the first past the post method. The assembly may be dissolved before the completion of the full term by the Lieutenant Governor upon the advice of the Chief Minister. The Lieutenant Governor may also convene special sessions of the legislative assembly.

Membership by party

Template:See also The membership of the 13th Jammu and Kashmir Assembly by party is as follows:

Party MLAs Leader
Template:Party name with colour 41[20] Omar Abdullah
Template:Party name with colour 29 Sunil Kumar Sharma
Template:Party name with colour 6 Ghulam Ahmad Mir
Template:Party name with colour 4 Waheed Para
Template:Party name with colour 1 Sajjad Gani Lone
Template:Party color cell AIP 1 Khursheed Ahmed Sheikh
Template:Party name with colour 1 Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami
Template:Party name with colour 1 Mehraj Malik
Template:Party color cell IND 6
Total 90

Members

Office bearers

Source:[21]

Office Holder Since
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather 4 November 2024
Chief Minister (Leader of the House) Omar Abdullah[22] 16 October 2024
Deputy Chief Minister
(Deputy Leader of the House) 		Surinder Kumar Choudhary 16 October 2024
Leader of the Opposition Sunil Kumar Sharma 3 November 2024
Secretary Manoj Kumar Pandit[23] 31 October 2022

Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA)

Template:Transcluded section {{#section-h:13th Jammu and Kashmir Assembly|Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA)}}

List of Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Opposition leaders needed to list

Template:Notelist

See also

References

  1. ↑ Amid contrasting claims, J&K Governor dissolves Assembly. The Hindu(2018-11-21). Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  2. ↑ Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. National Informatics Centre. Retrieved 29 August 2010.Template:Dead link
  3. ↑ [{{{url}}} Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir]. C. Hurst & Co.
  4. ↑ [{{{url}}} Islam and Political Mobilization in Kashmir, 1931-34](1981).
  5. ↑ State autonomy under indian constitution a study with reference to the state of jammu and kashmir. Kurukhsetra University/Shodhganga(19 January 2024).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  7. ↑ Cabinet Responsibility to Legislature: Motions of Confidence and No-confidence in Lok Sabha and State Legislatures{{#if:Malhotra|, Malhotra}. Lok Sabha Secretariat(2004). ISBN 978-8-1200-0400-9
  8. ↑ President declares abrogation of provisions of Article 370. The Hindu(2019-08-07). Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 President Kovind gives assent to J&K Reorganisation Bill, two new UTs to come into effect from Oct 31. The Indian Express(2019-08-09). Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  10. ↑ J&K administration orders abolition of legislative council, asks its staff to report to GAD. Financial express(17 October 2019). Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  11. ↑ Abolition of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council in terms of Section 57 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. jkgad.nic.in. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Delimitation of Constituencies in Jammu-Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland - Notification dated 06.03.2020 - Delimitation.
  13. ↑ Many seats redrawn in J&K delimitation draft. The Hindu(2022-02-05). Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation report. The Hindu(2022-05-09). Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  15. ↑ Orders of J&K Delimitation Commission take effect. Hindustan Times(2022-05-21). Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  16. ↑ Parliament passes J-K Reservation, J-K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bills. The Economic Times(2023-12-12). Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  17. ↑ Rajya Sabha passes J&K Bills on reservation, Assembly representation. Moneycontrol(2023-12-11). Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  18. ↑ What is the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019?. Jagranjosh.com(2020-03-14). Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  19. ↑ Parliament passes J-K reservation and reorganisation amendment bills: Know all about them. www.indiatvnews.com(2023-12-11). Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  20. ↑ Omar Thanks NC MLAs for Electing Him Leader of Legislature Party(10 October 2024).
  21. ↑ Home | Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. jkla.neva.gov.in. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  22. ↑ NC Legislators Thumbs up Omar Abdullah for J&K Chief Minister(11 October 2024).
  23. ↑ Details.Template:Dead link

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