SRINAGAR: The ruling National Conference (NC) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Part (BJP) are locked in a war of words over the constitution of House Committees by J&K Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, with the BJP accusing the NC of bias in allotting chairmanships and the ruling party defending the allocations as being in line with parliamentary conventions.
J&K Assembly Speaker has constituted several key committees for 2026-27 and nominated members to financial and subject-specific committees, including Public Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee, Public Undertakings Committee, Environment Committee, and others.
BJP’s Surjeet Singh Slathia is chairman of Public Accounts Committee, Nazir Ahmad Khan of NC heads Estimates Committee, Mir Saifullah (NC) leads Public Undertakings Committee, CPI (M) leader M Y Tarigami heads Environment Committee, independent MLA Muzaffar Iqbal Khan heads Subordinate Legislation, Justice Hasnain Masoodi of NC heads Privileges committee, Farooq Ahmad Shah of NC heads Petitions Committee and Ali Mohammad Sagar of NC heads Government Assurances Committee.
The BJP cried foul and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Sunil Sharma has said eight out of nine committee chairmanships were given to NC-led alliance MLAs and accused the Speaker of “turning the Assembly into the headquarters of the ruling party.
“This is an insult to the mandate of the people and violates the principle of proportional representation,” Sharma said, adding Speaker must exercise discretion fairly.
The NC countered BJP criticism by claiming that the proportion of chairmanships mirrors parliamentary practice.
According to NC MLA Tanvir Sadiq, in the Parliament the ruling party chairs roughly 62.5% of committees with opposition and others heading 37.5%. In comparison, in J&K, NC chairs five of nine committees (55.56%) while four are led by opposition or independent members (44.44%).
Sadiq emphasised that the Assembly has historically nurtured some of J&K’s tallest political leaders, asserting that the Speaker’s decisions align with democratic norms.
On LoP targeting party’s headquarters, NC MLA said it has always been an institution that has produced some of the tallest political leaders of J&K. “That legacy didn’t begin yesterday, and it certainly isn’t ending today”, he said.
Sharma, however, claimed that NC was “twisting facts to shield the Speaker” and noted that several non-financial committees traditionally headed by opposition, such as the Committee on Government Assurances, were assigned to ruling party members.
“NC is conveniently hiding the fact that chairmanship of 62.5% of committees was allotted to NDA (15 out of 24) and not only to BJP. 37.5 % chairmanships were allotted to opposition parties (9 out of 24). If the principle of proportionate representation is applied to J&K Assembly, three committee chairs should go to the BJP, five to the ruling parties, and one to independents if they are treated as a bloc, or to another opposition party,” he said.
The LoP said the Speaker allotted chairmanships of 89% of committees of the Assembly to the ruling party and its allies in complete disregard of representation of parties in the House and called for adherence to parliamentary conventions and proportional representation in all committee appointments.