Legislative council may be gone, but its shadows persist
Srinagar, Oct 18: The upcoming Rajya Sabha election in Jammu & Kashmir has rekindled memories of cross-voting by Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) during elections to the now-defunct Legislative Council, which was abolished by Parliament under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019.
As per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), a look back at previous indirect contests in J&K-where MLAs served as voters-reveals a history riddled with political surprises. Elections to the Legislative Council, known as the House of Elders, witnessed numerous instances of MLAs defying party whips. The Council, which no longer exists, had 36 members, 22 of whom were elected by MLAs.
The most shocking instance of cross-voting happened on April 13, 2011, when BJP’s candidate Thakur Ranjit Singh secured only four votes, despite the party having 11 MLAs in the Assembly.
Embarrassed by the defiance of the party line, the BJP expelled seven MLAs and even wrote to the Speaker of the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly seeking their disqualification.
The issue of cross-voting also echoed repeatedly in the Legislative Assembly during the NC-Congress alliance, with the Congress seeking the disqualification of BJP MLAs. The Speaker, however, didn’t take any action against them.
Six of them were later reinstated in the party in 2014.
Another surprising result emerged in 2009 when Panthers Party with just 3 MLAS managed to send its candidate, Syed Rafiq Shah, to the Upper House of the J&K legislature, thanks to support from the PDP and BJP. “I got 34 votes from PDP and BJP MLAs-more than the required number,” he told KNO.
Rafiq, who is currently associated with BJP, said that he didn’t expect victory in the election.
“Panthers Party founder late Prof.Bhim Singh, BJP’s Chaman Lal Gupta, and PDP founder late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, played a significant role in my victory,” he said. (KNO)
