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Srinagar, October 23 (IANS) The autumn session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly began on Thursday with tributes to former state governor Satyapal Malik and six former MLAs.
Before entering the Assembly, ruling National Conference (NC) and Congress MLAs staged a silent protest in the Assembly premises demanding the release of arrested Doda MLA Mehraj Malik.
Malik was detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in September on charges of disturbing peace and law and order in Doda district.
At the beginning of the assembly session, NC MLA from Sonawari constituency Hilal Lone raised the issue of Malik’s arrest. Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather asked him to sit on his seat and assured that he would allow him to speak on the issue later.
Urging members to make maximum use of the nine-day Assembly session, Rather said, “We have limited time, and we should try to make maximum use of it. Many members and leaders passed away between the third and fourth sessions of the Assembly, and the House will pay tribute to them.”
The session began with tributes to former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik, who passed away on August 5.
Other former leaders who paid tribute included former minister Gulchain Singh Charak, former MLA Dina Nath Bhagat, former MLC Ghulam Nabi Shaheen, Ramesh Arora and Sardar Mohammad Akhlaq Khan and former MLA Mohammad Sultan Panditpori.
On Friday, the House will vote to elect four Rajya Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir. The seats are vacant from 2021 as assembly elections were not held till last year.
While three NC candidates, Muhammad Ramzan Choudhary, Sajjad Kitchlu and Shami Oberoi, have taken the lead over rivals, the fourth seat will see a tough fight between BJP Jammu and Kashmir president, Sat Sharma and NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar.
Dar will need the support not only of his own party members but also of the opposition PDP, Awami Ittehad Party and AAP to win the fourth seat, on which the BJP has a clear lead of 28 votes against the 24 of the NC and its alliance partners.
The session is expected to be a stormy affair as issues like restoration of statehood, reservation policy and regularization of thousands of daily wage earners will dominate the proceedings.
As the NC government completed one year in office last week, the opposition is also expected to lift the promises made by the ruling party in its manifesto before the Jammu and Kashmir elections last year.
According to officials, the MLAs have presented 450 questions to be placed before the government, 13 private members’ bills and more than 50 resolutions for discussion during the session.
The House will also try to decide the fate of about three dozen bills that were introduced in the budget session but are pending.
Voting is being held on Friday for four seats of Rajya Sabha and the elected members of the Assembly will vote.
Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has directed the authorities that detained Doda MLA Mehraj Malik should be given the facility to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections. Officials have said that the detained MLA is being provided postal ballot to exercise his democratic right.
–IANS
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