NEW DELHI, Oct 14: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea challenging the Lieutenant Governor’s (LG) authority to nominate five Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and PV Sanjay Kumar advised the petitioner to first approach the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, stating that bypassing the High Court could lead to oversights. “In many cases where we have entertained at first instance, we see many things get left out,” the court noted.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the petitioner Ravinder Kumar Sharma, argued that allowing an unelected LG to nominate MLAs could undermine the electoral mandate.
As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, the LG is empowered to nominate five MLAs to represent displaced Kashmiri people and those from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The 90-member elected assembly’s majority mark increases from 45 to 48 due to these nominations.
In the recent assembly elections, the INDIA coalition—comprising the J&K National Conference, Indian National Congress, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist)—secured 49 seats, surpassing the 48-seat majority even with the addition of the five nominated MLAs.
