Speculation that lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha plans to nominate five MLAs ahead of government formation in Jammu and Kashmir to give the BJP an advantage has triggered furious criticism from the principal Valley parties and the Congress.

Sinha’s administration has not reacted to the allegation, which comes as political parties wait anxiously for the results of the Assembly elections — held after a decade — to be declared on October 8.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, empowered the lieutenant governor (LG) to nominate two women MLAs if the gender was not adequately represented in the House. An amendment last year provided for another three nominated MLAs from among the Kashmiri migrant communities and displaced people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The measures were fiercely criticised at the time, with the non-BJP parties arguing that any such nomination should be done by the elected government. Now, the suspicion that Sinha might make the nominations ahead of government formation to help the BJP has had these parties up in arms.

“With LG ‘nominating’ 5 MLAs & Chief Secretary changing transaction of business rules it’s clear that the incoming government will be a toothless tiger,” Iltija Mufti, daughter and media adviser to former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, said on X on Saturday.

“How much more will GOI possibly strip J&K of any semblance of authority & autonomy? Rubberstamp CM = Glorified mayor of a municipality.”

Iltija was referring to a post by former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday night that suggested the chief secretary was in the process of changing the transaction-of-business rules to weaken the elected government.

Sinha’s administration had not issued a denial till late on Saturday night.

“The BJP has clearly accepted defeat in J&K. Why else would the Chief secretary be assigned the duty to change the transaction of business rules of the government to curtail the powers of the Chief minister/ elected government and assign the same to the LG?” Omar had posted on X.

“This information has come to me from within the Secretariat. Officers would be well advised to resist any pressure to further disempower the incoming elected government.”

Earlier in July, the Union home ministry had amended the rules of the J&K Reorganisation Act, giving the LG unbridled powers over the police, public order, all-India services and the anti-corruption bureau.

The move had prompted allegations of reducing future chief ministers to a “rubber stamp” and the Assembly to a “municipality”.

Rattan Lal Gupta, the National Conference’s Jammu chief, said the power to nominate MLAs should lie solely with an elected government and cannot be exercised by the lieutenant governor in the absence of an elected body.

“We have raised strong objections against the nomination of five MLAs to
the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly by the LG. Any such move is unconstitutional and undemocratic,” Gupta said.