No J&K MPS in RS after Feb 15 as four members’ terms end

NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha will have no representatives from Jammu and Kashmir by the middle of February, when the four Upper House members from the Union territory (UT) carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 complete their stints.

Because the UT does not have an elected assembly at present, there will be no representatives in the upper chamber of Parliament until elections are held in J&K.

Members of the Rajya Sabha are chosen by an electoral college of state legislators with a system of proportional representation through a single transferable vote.

The election itself will be held after the delimitation exercise to redraw the boundaries of the electoral constituencies is completed. According to people aware of the details, the delimitation process is expected to be completed by March.

In August 2019, the Centre pushed through constitutional changes divesting the erstwhile state of its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcating it into two UTS -- J&K and Ladakh. Two members of Parliament (MPS) from the People’s Democratic Party, Nazir Ahmed Laway and Mir Mohammed Fayaz, will see their terms end on February 10 and 15 respectively.

Congress leader and leader of the opposition in the House Ghulam Nabi Azad will see his end on February 15 and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Shamsher Singh Manhas, on February 10. While Azad has been a member of the Upper House for five terms since 1996, Laway, Mir and Manhas are first time MPS.

To be sure, this is not the first time that the Upper House will be without any representative from J&K. Between 1991 and 1996, when the state had no assembly, there were no MPS from J&K in the Upper House for the duration between April 1994 and October 1996. “This has happened before when assembly elections were not held in 1991...once that [delimitation exercise] is completed we are hopeful that assembly elections will be held and the due processes will be followed,” Laway said.

Constitutional expert and former Lok Sabha secretary general secretary PDT Achary said: “Ideally, such a situation should not have arisen, but because of the circumstances, the House will go without representation from the UT. Since the process of delimitation and holding polls to elect a new assembly has not been carried out, this is fait accompli,” he said.