Omar Abdullah said such a move cannot help the BJP gain a majority but would only lead to friction between the new government and the Centre.
National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah asked the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Manoj Sinha not to nominate members from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it can contribute to friction between the elected government and the Centre.
He also said that the new government would have to approach the Supreme Court if any such nominations were made to the new assembly, and this would strain relations between J&K and the central government. Abdullah also said J&K cannot afford to have contentious relations with Delhi, as it needs the Centre’s help to solve complex issues in the region.
“There would be a fight as we would then have to approach the Supreme Court and appeal against it. There would be tensions in our relations with Centre from the first day, a relation that we want to build,” said the new MLA from Budgam and Ganderbal.
Abdullah said the exercise is futile as it cannot help the BJP attain a majority to form the government in union territory. “I would suggest them to not do it (nominate from BJP). Nominating these 5 won’t change the government, so what is the use of it? You would unnecessarily nominate 5 people to sit in Opposition?,” he asked.
The former chief minister also asked the LG to nominate MLAs only after consultation with the new government and indicated that several independent candidates might join with the NC-Congress alliance after government formation.
The NC-Congress alliance secured 49 seats, and the BJP secured 29 in the 90-member assembly. The alliance has 3 seats more than the simple majority mark of 46, which is required to form the government. The lieutenant governor’s powers to nominate five members to the assembly, over and above the 90 elected members, will increase the assembly’s strength to 95 and the effective majority mark to 48. This will leave the new government vulnerable as it would have just one member more than the new majority mark. Source
