New Delhi: The bill to split Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories sailed through Lok Sabha on Tuesday, with some opposition parties walking out, bringing down the majority mark, and others siding with the government. Amid a political storm that started on Monday morning since Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement in parliament, the resolution was passed through a division of votes – 366 members voted in its favour and 66 voted against it.
Amid a huge troop build-up leading to unrest in the state, the government on Tuesday morning announced that special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution has been removed by an order from President Ram Nath Kovind. He also announced the government’s bifurcation plan that involved splitting the state into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, which would have a legislature and Ladakh, which won’t have one.
The Congress had led the opposition protests against the Kashmir decisions along with a handful of parties – the Samajwadi Party, the DMK, Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left parties.
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