J-K Assembly Session to begin Thursday

Srinagar, Oct 22 (PTI) The autumn session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly scheduled to begin on Thursday is expected to be a stormy affair as issues like statehood, reservation policy and regularisation of thousands of daily wage workers in the union territory are set to dominate the proceedings.

The nine-day assembly session will begin with the House scheduled to pay homage to former legislators from Jammu and Kashmir who passed away recently.

On Friday, the Legislative Assembly will vote to elect four Rajya Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir. These seats have been vacant since 2021 as the elections to the legislative assembly had not been held till last year.

While three candidates of the ruling National Conference are expected to have a smooth sailing in view of the numbers in the current assembly, the fourth seat will see a close contest as veteran BJP leader Sat Pal Sharma is pitted against young NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar.

Dar will need support from not only his party members but opposition PDP, Awami Ittehad Party and AAP as well.

With every vote valuable enough to turn the battle either way, People's Conference president Sajad Gani Lone has already announced that he will abstain from voting. This decision has already favoured the BJP.

The real fireworks are expected to begin on Monday as opposition parties will try to corner the ruling National Conference on a host of issues, including restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and rationalisation of the existing reservation quota policy in the union territory.

As the government completed one year in office last week, the opposition is also expected to raise the promises made by the ruling party in its manifesto during the assembly polls last year.

According to the officials, the MLAs have submitted 450 questions to be asked of the government during this session.

There are also 13 private members' bills and more than 50 resolutions submitted by the MLAs for discussion during the session.

The House will also try to decide the fate of nearly three dozen bills which were introduced in the Budget session but are pending. PTI MIJ DV DV