Jammu and Kashmir Assembly won’t be part of presidential polls for second time

With the Presidential election 2022 to be held on July 18, Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly members would not be part of the process for the second time in the history.

Earlier in 1992, elected Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and Members of Parliament (MPs) from Jammu & Kashmir were not part of the presidential elections as then state was under central rule during the peak of the insurgency.

While J&K Assembly was dissolved after the resignation of then-Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in January 1990, the Lok Sabha elections of 1991 could not be held due to deteriorating security situation. J&K remained under central rule for nearly seven years from January 1990 to October 1996 due to the eruption of armed conflict.

However, unlike 1992, this time five MPs from J&K – Farooq Abdullah, Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi of National Conference and Jugal Kishor Sharma and Jitendra Singh of the BJP – will be able to cast their votes in the presidential polls.

However, the value of the vote of a MP will go down to 700 from 708 in the Presidential polls due to the absence of the Legislative Assembly in J&K. The value of the vote of an MP in a Presidential election is based on the number of elected members in legislative assemblies of states and union territories, including Delhi, Puducherry and J&K.

The Electoral College for the presidential election comprises the members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and those of the legislative assemblies of states and union territories.

While Assembly elections in the UT are due since June 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to the PDP, the Lok Sabha elections in the erstwhile state were held along with rest of the country in April-May 2019.

Since last more than two years, the BJP government at the Centre had been saying Assembly polls in the UT will be held after the completion of Delimitation process. While the Delimitation Commission submitted its much delayed final report last month, there is no indication of polls being held in near future.

J&K became part of the Electoral College for presidential elections on January 26, 1950 when the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order, 1950 was issued.

In the last presidential elections held in 2017, MLAs of PDP and BJP voted for Ram Nath Kovind while those from opposition NC and Congress voted in favour of Meira Kumar. President Kovind completes his term on July 24.