J&K Assembly’s autumn session begins with obituary reference to departed leaders
Srinagar: The autumn session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly started on Thursday with the House paying homage to former state governor, Satya Pal Malik and six ex-lawmakers.
Before entering the Assembly, MLAs from the ruling National Conference (NC) and Congress staged a silent protest on the Assembly premises, demanding the release of arrested Doda MLA Mehraj Malik.
Malik was detained in September under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for allegedly disturbing peace and law and order in Doda district.
At the start of the Assembly session, NC MLA from Sonawari constituency, Hilal Lone, raised the issue of Malik’s arrest. The Speaker, Abdul Rahim Rather, told him to take his seat, assuring that he would allow him to speak on the issue later.
Urging the members to make maximum use of the nine-day Assembly session, Rather said, “We have limited time, and we should try to make optimum use of it. Several members and leaders passed away between the third and fourth sessions of the Assembly, and the House will pay tributes to them.”
The session opened with obituary references to honour former J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik, who passed away on August 5.
Other former leaders to whom obituary references were included are former Minister Gulchain Singh Charak, former MLA Dina Nath Bhagat, ex-MLCs Ghulam Nabi Shaheen, Ramesh Arora and Sardar Mohammad Akhlaq Khan and former legislator Mohammad Sultan Pandithpori.
On Friday, the House will vote to elect four Rajya Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir. The seats have been vacant since 2021 as the elections to the Assembly were not held until last year.
While three NC candidates, Muhammed Ramzan Chowdhary, Sajad Kichloo and Shami Oberoi have an edge over rivals, the fourth seat will see a close contest between BJP J&K president, Sat Sharma and NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar.
Dar will need support from not only his party members, but also from the opposition PDP, Awami Ittehad Party and AAP to win the fourth seat, on which the BJP has a clear edge with 28 votes against 24 of NC and its alliance partners.
The session is expected to be stormy as issues like restoration of statehood, reservation policy and regularisation of thousands of daily wagers are set to dominate the proceedings.
As the NC government completed one year in office last week, the opposition is also expected to raise the promises made by the ruling party in its manifesto ahead of the J&K polls last year.
According to officials, the MLAs have submitted 450 questions to be placed before the government during the session, along with 13 private members’ bills and more than 50 resolutions for discussions.
The House will also try to decide the fate of nearly three dozen bills which were introduced in the budget session but are pending.
Voting for the four Rajya Sabha seats is being held on Friday, and the elected members of the Assembly will vote.
J&K and Ladakh High Court has directed authorities that the detained Doda MLA, Mehraj Malik, should be facilitated to cast his vote in the Rajya Sabha polls. The authorities have said the detained MLA is being provided a postal ballot to exercise his democratic right.
