Prez polls: Value of vote of MPs likely to go down to 700 from 708

NEW DELHI: The value of the vote of a Member of Parliament is likely to go down to 700 from 708 in the presidential polls scheduled in July due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Saturday.

The value of the vote of an MP in a presidential election is based on the number of elected members in legislative assemblies of states and union territories, including Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. The Electoral College for the presidential election comprises the members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and those of the legislative assemblies of states and union territories including Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.

Before it was bifurcated into two union territories of Ladakh, and Jammu & Kashmir in August 2019, the erstwhile state of J&K had 83 assembly seats.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, the Union Territory of J&K will have a legislative assembly, while Ladakh will be governed directly by the Centre. The government had announced that elections to the legislative assembly would be held after the completion of the delimitation of assembly constituencies.

Last week, the Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir notified its final order in which it has recommended a 90-member House for the newly carved out union territory. But it may take some time to have an elected House in place in the UT.

In 1974, the 182-member Gujarat Assembly was dissolved in March following the Navnirman Andolan and could not be constituted before the presidential election in which Fakruddin Ali Ahmed was elected.