Today, On 14th October, The Supreme Court declined to hear a petition challenging the Lieutenant Governor’s authority to nominate five MLAs to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and PV Sanjay Kumar directed the petitioner to first approach the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for relief.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court declined to hear a plea challenging the Lieutenant Governor’s authority to nominate 5 MLAs to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and PV Sanjay Kumar remarked, advising the petitioner to first approach the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.
The Court observed,
“We are not inclined to entertain the matter, In cases where we bypass the High Court initially, many aspects are left out,”
This came after Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing petitioner Ravinder Kumar Sharma, argued that nominations by an unelected LG could undermine the electoral mandate.
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly consists of 90 elected members. According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, the Lieutenant Governor is empowered to nominate 5 additional MLAs to represent displaced Kashmiri individuals and those from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
This raises the majority threshold in the Assembly from 45 to 48 seats.
In the recently concluded elections, the INDIA coalition, which includes the J&K National Conference, Indian National Congress, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), won 49 seats, surpassing the majority mark of 48, even accounting for the nomination of the 5 additional members.
The controversy stems from provisions in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, which grants the Lieutenant Governor the authority to nominate five additional MLAs to the J&K Assembly. These nominations are intended to represent displaced Kashmiri Pandits and individuals from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), aiming to provide a voice for these marginalized communities in the legislative process.
The petitioner argued that allowing the LG, an unelected figure, to nominate these members could alter the democratic mandate of the Assembly, particularly in a region as politically sensitive as Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the plea at this time does not necessarily mean the end of the legal challenge, as the petitioner now has the option to take the matter to the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court for further consideration.
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