Alongside the 90 elected members, the five nominated members can take the total strength of the reorganised J&K House to 95. (File/Representative)The next session of the J&K assembly, scheduled to begin in Jammu on March 3, is likely to be held without nominated members since neither the Raj Bhawan nor the elected government have announced or hinted at their choices for these seats.Alongside the 90 elected members, the five nominated members can take the total strength of the reorganised J&K House to 95.Sources in the J&K government told The Indian Express that “there has been no conversation regarding nominating members to these seats since there is no clarity on who will nominate them”.Ahead of the Assembly polls results in October last year, speculation was rife regarding the possibility of these five nominated members tilting the balance of power in the J&K Assembly. The J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 specifies that the Lieutenant-Governor “may nominate two members to the Legislative Assembly” to give representation to women “if, in his opinion, women are not adequately represented in the Legislative Assembly”.In an amendment to the Act in July 2023, an addition was made to allow for the nomination of three more members to the Assembly – two members from the Kashmiri migrant community, including a woman, and one member from the “displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir”.While the Act mentions that these nominations are at the discretion of the L-G, it does not specify whether they will have voting rights.Also read | Months after assembly polls, J&K issues orders officials to ‘accord priority’ to elected representativesWhile political leadership had criticised the move at the time, legal experts argued that the L-G has to nominate the members on the “aid and advice” of the elected government.Story continues below this adWith the National Conference securing 42 seats and the government securing a comfortable majority with support from the Congress, the conversation around the nominated members had receded to the background. The first session of the Assembly held in November focussed on the statehood resolution, while the second will be the UT’s first budget session.In the three months since the first session, the Raj Bhawan has not pushed any names, nor has the government pursued the issue. “There have not been any proposals to this effect,” government sources said. It is also unclear whether the matter of nomination of members is being tackled in the new Transaction of Business Rules, which are yet to be announced for J&K as a Union Territory.© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Jammu and Kashmir Assembly