Union territory legislature house in India
The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly also known as the Jammu and Kashmir Vidhan Sabha is the legislature of Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir was dissolved by the Governor on 21 November 2018.[1]
Prior to 2019, the State of Jammu and Kashmir had a bicameral legislature with a legislative assembly (lower house) and a legislative council (upper house). The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, passed by the Parliament of India in August 2019, replaced this with a unicameral legislature while also re-organising the state into a union territory.
History
Praja Sabha
The first legislature of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, called the Praja Sabha, was established by the government of the Maharaja Hari Singh in 1934.[2] It had 33 elected seats, 30 nominated members and 12 ex-officio members.[3]
The first election in 1934 saw the Liberal Group headed by Pandit Ram Chander Dubey emerge as the largest party and the Muslim Conference as the second largest (with 14 seats).[4] Further elections were held in 1938 and 1947.
In 1939, the Muslim Conference party renamed itself to National Conference under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah and opened its membership to people of all religions. It launched a Quit Kashmir movement in 1946 and boycotted the 1947 election.[5]
Post-accession
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 2010
After the accession of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947, the Maharaja ceded powers to a popular government headed by Sheikh Abdullah. Elections for a constituent assembly were held in 1951, in which Abdullah's National Conference won all 75 seats.
In 1957, a new constitution was adopted by the constituent assembly, which established a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council and a lower house, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.[6]
In August 2019, a Reorganisation Act was passed by the Indian Parliament. The act reorganised the former state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories; Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on 31 October 2019. The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has a unicameral Legislative Assembly. The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council was formally abolished on 16 October 2019.[7][8]
In March 2020, a three-member Delimitation Commission was formed, chaired by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, for the delimitation of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.[9] The commission published its interim report in February 2022.[10] The final delimitation report was released on 5 May 2022[11] and it came into force from 20 May 2022.[12]
Composition
The Legislative Assembly was initially composed of 100 members, later increased to 111 by the then Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir (Twentieth Amendment) Act of 1988.[6] Of these, 24 seats are designated for the territorial constituencies of the state that came under Pakistani control in 1947.[6] These seats remain officially vacant as per section 48 of the then state constitution and now also in The Constitution of India.[6] These seats are not taken into account for reckoning the total membership of the assembly, especially for deciding quorum and voting majorities for legislation and government formation.[6] Hence the total contestable and filled seats of the assembly remained 87 of which there are presently 83 seats after the separation of Ladakh as a union territory which had 4 seats. The Kashmir valley region has 46 seats, the Jammu region has 37 seats.
Delimitation started for all the constituencies of the assembly prior to the next Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election.[9] The delimitation report has added additional 6 seats to the Jammu division and 1 seat to Kashmir division, thus taking the total tally to 90 seats.[13]
Tenure and functions
Members of the Legislative Assembly were elected for a six-year term up to 2019 and five-year term thereafter. The seats are filled by direct election from single member constituencies using the first past the post method. The assembly may be dissolved before the completion of the full term by the Lieutenant Governor upon the advice of the Chief Minister. The Lieutenant Governor may also convene special sessions of the legislative assembly.
Membership by party
The assembly is currently dissolved. The composition of the assembly prior to dissolution was as follows:
Attack on the State Assembly Complex
On 1 October 2001, armed terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group carried out an attack on the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly Complex in Srinagar using a car bomb and three suicide bombers.[17][18]
