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| Malhotra unanimous choice as LC chairman | | In dilemma, NC silent over Dy Chairman's name | | Early Times Report
jammu, Feb 5: Having kept the task pending for over a year, the government has finally decided to conduct proper elections for the prestigious post of Chairman Legislative Council on February 24. Even as it remains a foregone conclusion that Amrit Malhotra of Congress, who at present is the acting Chairman, will retain the Chair, it remains to be seen whether the government applies the same parameters for choosing the member for Deputy Chairman post as in the Legislative Assembly from the opposition party or sticks to same traditional practice of having one from other ruling ally, NC.
According to sources the alliance National Conference and Congress have already agreed in principle to have Amrit Malhotra as Chairman for next two years, he being the senior member of the House from Congress Party. Malhotra also has additional 'political' advantage of qualifying him to be on the post on account of his proximity with the leaders of the party in New Delhi who count in so far as vital decisions on important appointments in the government are concerned. It is pertinent to mention here that it has been the tradition in the coalition governments that if the Speaker of the Assembly is from one alliance partner, the Chairman of the Upper House has to be from the other ally.
Though the election for the post has been over due for a long time, earlier the seat having been occupied by Arvinder Singh Micky of Congress in capacity of Deputy Chairman, upon his completion of the term in the House as member, it became mandatory to conduct the election. It is pertinent to mention here that Malhotra was appointed as Acting Chairman of Legislative Council by Governor on September 15 last year soon after Micky's term completed.
The election for the post of Chairman Upper House schedule for February 24, is however a formality, as the Electoral College conveniently allows smooth election of Malhotra, he being the unanimous choice of both the alliance partners. What however, remains interesting to note is that government has chosen silence as to who would be choice for the post of Deputy chairperson, which is again a very prestigious post in the Upper House.
As per the agreement between the coalition government partners, post of Legislative council chairman has to go to the Congress and that of deputy chairman to National Conference; sources said adding that NC has yet to declare who would be its choice. Sources also said that there are many contenders in the party for this post which is why NC leadership has deliberately maintained silence. In any case however, there has to be a formal procedure to be adopted almost similar to that for electing Chairman, even though a mere formality.
Observers say the government can also break the earlier tradition and adopt the similar yardstick of having one member as Deputy from amongst the opposition, as it has the precedence in the Legislative Assembly. However as against a sizable number in Assembly, in the Upper House there are at present only five members from main opposition PDP and just one from J&K Panthers Party. In all there are 29 members in LC at present. One Congress seat has fallen vacant with the death of MLC Yash Pal Khajuria. Apart from this there are seven vacancies in the House of 36 including four from the quota of Panchayats and two from Urban Local Bodies. The government has for now deferred the process for filling up these seats. |
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