Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sofi Yousuf on Monday said that the five persons to be nominated to the Union territory’s Legislative Assembly by the lieutenant governor will be from his party, Greater Kashmir reported.
Yousuf, the vice-president of the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, also listed the possible nominees.
His statement came a day ahead of the counting of votes for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on Tuesday.
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The Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir has a strength of 119 members. While elections took place in 90 constituencies, 24 more seats are designated for areas that are in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The lieutenant governor has the power to appoint five members. Therefore, a party or a coalition needs 48 seats for a majority when the House has 95 members.
In an interview to the Greater Kashmir, Yousuf claimed that the nominees were BJP state secretary Ashok Koul, former state chief of the BJP women’s wing Rajni Sethi, the party’s state secretary Fareeda Khan and spokesperson Sunil Sethi.
“The fifth one is a refugee, the president of our Mahila Morcha,” Yusuf was quoted as saying. “All of them are ours.”
Three of the five members nominated by the lieutenant governor have to be women as per the 2019 Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act.
Also read: The BJP’s impossible task in Kashmir Valley
Yousuf claimed on Monday that Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha would take a decision on the nominated members on the advice of the Union Home Ministry. He added that there was nothing wrong in the Centre nominating BJP leaders.
“The Central government in New Delhi is ours,” he was quoted as saying. “The names will be from the party that is in power. I am putting my stamp on it. These five MLAs are ours.”
On Monday, BJP leaders and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionaries held a joint meeting in Jammu to discuss the names to be sent to the Union government for nomination as MLAs, The Indian Express reported, quoting unidentified sources.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindutva group, is the parent organisation of the ruling BJP.
The final decision on the nominees is with the Union Home Ministry, which would recommend the names to Sinha, the persons said.
On Monday, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah said that his party was ready to go to the Supreme Court if Sinha went ahead with the nomination, The Indian Express reported.
“Lieutenant governor sahib should stay away from it because now a government is being formed,” the former chief minister said. “It is up to the government to decide whom to nominate and then send it to lieutenant governor sahib. That’s the normal procedure.”
Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti said that no lessons appeared to have been learnt from the alleged rigging of the 1987 Jammu and Kashmir elections.
“Might as well have nominated all 90 members [of the Assembly] instead,” she said on social media. “Why even hold elections? 1987’s stolen election took J&K to the brink.”
Most exit polls on Saturday projected the National Conference-Congress alliance to be ahead of the BJP.
Also read: Why new J&K government will be stunted – no matter who wins
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