Process to hold elections to 8 MLC seats set into motion

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 1: A process to fill eight vacancies in the Legislative Council in the month of March was today set into motion with the Upper House Secretary writing to the Election Commission about name of Members retiring on March 15 after completion of their term.
Confirming receipt of the official communication from the Upper House, where eight posts are falling vacant on March 15, the Election Commission sources said they have informed the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) about the vacancies.
The Election Commission would be announcing schedule for elections to eight vacancies in the Upper House either by the end of this month or the start of February so that the entire exercise was completed in first week of March.
Four MLCs, who were retiring on March 15, belonged to Congress and two each to National Conference and People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
They included Political Advisor to Chief Minister, Devender Singh Rana and MY Taing, both from National Conference, Medical Education Minister RS Chib, Naresh Gupta, Mohammad Amin Bhat and Haji Ali Mohammad Bhat, all from Congress, Murtaza Ahmad Khan and Choudhary Nizam-ud-Din Khatana, both from PDP.
Of eight vacancies, four belonged to Kashmir region including those held by Mr Taing, Amin Bhat, Ali Bhat and Mr Khatana and three to Jammu region including Mr Chib, Mr Rana and Mr Khan. One seat held by Naresh Gupta of Congress was reserved for Doda district.
Barring Mr Gupta, all other five MLCs would be completing their six years term. Mr Gupta had four years term as he was elected after Congress MLC (now MLA) Mohammad Sharief Niaz had completed his two years of six years term from Doda reserve seat. Mr Niaz was later elected to Legislative Assembly from the seat vacated by Ghulam Nabi Azad, who made it to Rajya Sabha and subsequently was appointed Minister for Health and Family Welfare after UPA-II came to power.
The Election Commission would issue three notifications for eight seats, sources said, adding that one notification would be issued for four seats of Kashmir region, the second for three seats of Jammu region and the third for one seat reserved for Doda district.
Eighty-nine MLAs (87 elected and two nominated women) comprised Electoral College for electing eight MLCs.
Sources said out of four seats of Kashmir division, the National Conference-Congress coalition could get three while the opposition PDP was safe on one seat. The PDP has 21 MLAs, the National Conference 28, Congress 18, BJP 4, NPP 3, BJP rebels 7, CPM 1, DPN 1, JSM 1 and Independents 3. Lone reserved seat of Doda district would also go the Alliance nominee.
However, there could be fight on one out of three seats of Jammu region. While the coalition was sure to get two, the combine opposition including PDP, NPP, BJP and some Independents could claim the third seat. However, the Opposition unity was almost impossible going by the divergent ideologies of the parties. The support of seven BJP rebels was also crucial for either side.
Sources said the Election Commission most likely would prefer to hold the elections for eight vacancies of the Legislative Council by the end of February or the start of March when Legislature would be in session and it would be easy for the MLAs to cast their votes.
It may be mentioned here that Mr Chib is the lone MLC in Chief Minister Omar Abdullah led Council of Ministry. He would have to secure the Congress mandate for Upper House once again at any cost to maintain his Ministry.
Presently, there were only five members from the opposition in the Upper House including four from PDP and one from NPP. Rest all belonged to National Conference-Congress coalition.
There are a total of 36 seats in the Upper House. However, present strength of the House was 34 as two seats, reserved for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) were vacant in the absence of elections to the Municipalities, which were due since March 2010..
Four seats in the Upper House were filled last month from the quota of Panchayat members after 38 years taking strength of the Council from 30 to 34.
Strength of the House prior to 2005 remained confined to 30 as four seats reserved for Panchayats and two for Municipalities (Urban Local Bodies) couldn’t be filled in the absence of elections to both Urban and Rural Local Bodies.
However, two seats of Urban Local bodies were filled in October 2005 as ULB elections were held in January 2005 after a gap of 26 years. PDP’s Nizam-ud-Din Bhat was elected from a seat reserved for Kashmir from the ULBs while former Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council and senior Congress leader, Arvinder Singh Micky was elected from Jammu region.
Both these seats have also fallen vacant as Mr Bhat quit membership of the Upper House in 2009 after his election to the Legislative Assembly while Micky’s term expired on September 15 last year.
Elections to the Municipal Corporations and Committees were not held despite being due in March 2010.

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