STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: There was no merit in statements made by the Congress regarding LG Manoj Sinha’s powers to nominate five MLAs in the near future. The law about the Central government, or LG, nominating a specified number of MLAs to a Union Territory (UT) legislature has existed in the Constitution from 1963, BJP spokesperson Arun Gupta has said.
There is nothing new in this law which was a constitutional amendment done by the Congress government. Giving details, Gupta said that the relevant provision regarding nominations can be traced back to the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963.
This law specified that the Puducherry legislature was to have 30 elected MLAs and three nominated MLAs. The UT Act, 1963, was moved in Parliament by then Union Home Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and it was to create a legislature for the UT of Puducherry, he added.
Incidentally, the initial proposal of the Congress government of the time was to have a fully nominated legislature, with no provision for carving out single member territorial assembly segments. When the government of the day faced strong opposition, it was forced to have 30 elected and three (03) nominated MLAs, Gupta said. This is how the tradition of nominated MLAs in any Union Territory (UT) started, he pointed out explaining things in detail.
In this manner, instead of having a 100 per cent nominated assembly, the Congress decided to have 10 per cent nominated legislators in a UT legislature. If the present Central government had followed the pattern established by the Congress government, it could have given Mr Sinha powers to nominate nine (09) MLAs as elections were held for 90 assembly segments in Jammu & Kashmir, he said. However, the present Central government has legislated such powers that LG can nominate only five MLAs, he pointed out.
The powers of the LG to nominate MLAs in a UT assembly are derived on a firm precedent set by the Congress in 1963. In July 2023, the Reorganisation Act, 2019, as a consequence of which J&K became a UT, was amended and powers to nominate five MLAs were given to LG, Mr Gupta explained. The Union Home Ministry led by Amit Shah was only following the Puducherry UT model at that time. The relevant provisions regarding nominated MLAs in UT legislature can be found in Article 239A of the Constitution, he pointed out.
What all this unnecessary noise and din being created by the Congress means is that its action is akin to cutting nose to spite the face. The Congress had introduced the provision of nominated MLAs in UT legislature and this provision has been there for over six decades now. However, the Congress is trying to mislead the masses by terming this due process of law as undemocratic and unethical, Mr Gupta pointed out.
Under Article 239A of the Constitution which was inserted in the Constitution by a Congress government in 1963, the legislature of a UT can be based partly on elected members and some of its members can be nominated. A legislature that is part elected, part nominated is an established norm and the Congress never uttered a word seeking any change in this existing law, Mr Gupta said. It has suddenly woken up now and is trying to mislead everyone by virtually disowning what it had done, he pointed out.
Quoting a similar provision in respect of Parliament, Mr Gupta said the President can appoint 12 members to the Rajya Sabha. These members enjoy the same voting rights as elected members, except that they can’t vote in the election of the President, he concluded.