Lok Sabha passes Bill dividing Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs

The Bill strips Jammu and Kashmir's status of a state and converts it into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without legislature.

Amit Shah in Lok Sabha (Photo | PTI) 

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 with 370 votes in favour and 70 against it.

Having already been passed in the Upper House, the bill now awaits Presidential assent before becoming an Act.

The Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 strips Jammu and Kashmir's status of a state and converts it into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without legislature.

READ | Resolution revoking Article 370 passed in Lok Sabha

The bill was passed in Rajya Sabha on Monday after a division pressed by the opposition, with 125 votes in favour and 61 against, while an NCP member abstained.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 in the Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday and also moved the resolution to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

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