Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly :

The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly also known as the Jammu and Kashmir Vidhan Sabha is the legislature of Jammu and Kashmir. Prior to 2019, the State of Jammu and Kashmir had a bicameral legislature with a legislative assembly (lower house) and a legislative council (upper house). The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, passed by the Parliament of India in August 2019, replaced this with a unicameral legislature while also reorganised the state into a union territory.

The Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir was dissolved by Governor on 21 November 2018. New elections were expected within a period of 6 months but have subsequently been postponed to allow for the implementation of new constituency boundaries.

History :

Praja Sabha :

The first legislature of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, called the Praja Sabha, was established by the government of the Maharaja Hari Singh in 1934. It had 33 elected seats, 30 nominated members and 12 ex-officio members.The first election in 1934 saw the Liberal Group headed by Pandit Ram Chander Dubey emerge as the largest party and the Muslim Conference as the second largest (with 14 seats). Further elections were held in 1938 and 1947.

In 1939, the Muslim Conference party renamed itself to National Conference under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah and opened its membership to people of all religions. It launched a Quit Kashmir movement in 1946 and boycotted the 1947 election.

Post-accession :

After the accession of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947, the Maharaja ceded powers to a popular government headed by Sheikh Abdullah. Elections for a constituent assembly were held in 1951, in which Abdullah's National Conference won all 75 seats.

In 1957, a new constitution was adopted by the constituent assembly, which established a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council and a lower house, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

In August 2019, a Reorganisation Act was passed by the Indian Parliament. The act reorganises the current state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories; Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on 31 October 2019. The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has a unicameral Legislative Assembly. The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council was formally abolished on 16 October 2019.

Composition :

The Legislative Assembly was initially composed of 100 members, later increased to 111 by the then Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir (Twentieth Amendment) Act of 1988.Of these, 24 seats are designated for the territorial constituencies of the state that came under Pakistani control in 1947.These seats remain officially vacant as per section 48 of the then state constitution and now also in The Constitution of India.These seats are not taken into account for reckoning the total membership of the assembly, especially for deciding quorum and voting majorities for legislation and government formation. Hence the total contestable and filled seats of the assembly are presently 85 after the separation of Ladakh as a union territory which had 4 seats. The Kashmir valley region has 46 seats, the Jammu region has 37 seats.

The assembly is currently dissolved.

The composition of the assembly of 83 seats excluding 4 seats from ladakh, prior to dissolution was as follows: JKPDP (28), BJP (25), JKNC (15), INC (9), JKPC (2), CPI(M) (1), JKNPP (1), IND (2).

Tenure and functions :

Members of the Legislative Assembly were elected for a six-year term up to 2019 and five-year term thereafter. The seats are filled by direct election from single member constituencies using the first past the post method. The assembly may be dissolved before the completion of the full term by the Lieutenant Governor upon the advice of the Chief Minister. The Lieutenant Governor may also convene special sessions of the legislative assembly.

Office bearers :

The Assembly is convened and administered by the Speaker. The leader of the house is usually the Chief Minister, who is the leader of the party (or coalition of parties) whose members constitute a majority. The leader of the opposition represents the party (or coalition of parties) that has won the second-largest number of seats.