The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies (Amendment) Bill, 2024 to provide reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in panchayat and municipal bodies in the Union Territory.
Replying to a brief debate on the legislation, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said that it would introduce three amendments to the existing Acts. There is no current provision for seats to be reserved for OBCs in panchayats and municipalities in J&K.
J&K National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi asked why the Union government was amending a Bill that came under the purview of the Legislative Assembly.
‘J&K made into a laboratory’
J&K’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution was revoked by Parliament on August 5, 2019 and the former State was then split into the two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. J&K has not had a functioning Assembly since June 2018, when the erstwhile State went under central rule. In December 2023, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to hold Assembly polls in J&K by September 2024.
Mr. Masoodi said that over the past three months in J&K, 20 security personnel have been killed in various incidents, including a commanding officer. “A commanding officer has never been killed even in times of regular war. J&K has been made into a laboratory and is being marketed to seek votes. Had you cared for people, why is there uncertainty in Jammu? Why are people in Ladakh out on the streets in sub-zero temperatures? Introspect on the August 5, 2019 decision. What did the country achieve by all this?” Mr. Masoodi questioned.
Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in the Lok Sabha a day ago that big decisions would be taken in the third term of the government, Mr. Masoodi said that elections in J&K should be held before that.
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Local body polls
MoS Home Ajay Mishra Teni then intervened to claim that more than 35,000 representatives of local bodies, including block panchayat and block development representatives, were elected post August 5, 2019. In fact, panchayat elections were last held in J&K in 2018 and the five-year term of almost 30,000 local representatives expired on January 9.
“Panchayat institutions in J&K have been suspended, their terms expired on January 9. No Assembly elections in J&K since 2014, municipal and panchayat elections are in suspended animation. You said you will strengthen democracy post August 2019, what kind of empowerment is this? You could have given an extension to the panchayats,” said Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Caste-based census
“Our leader Rahul Gandhi has promised a caste-based census and has said that he will remove the 50% cap on reservation quota. We want the government to conduct a caste census,” he added.
Veeraswamy Kalanidhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam asked whether a caste-based census was on the agenda of the government.
Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Ray mentioned the alleged rigging of mayoral elections in Chandigarh and, quoting the Supreme Court, said that the government should be ashamed.
Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party demanded a timeline and “not a vague” answer from the government on holding Assembly polls and giving statehood to J&K.
