SRINAGAR: Leader of Opposition Sunil Kumar Sharma on Friday accused the National Conference (NC) of distorting facts to defend what he described as the Speaker’s “unjust and unfair” decisions regarding the allocation of committee chairmanships in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
Sharma said that the allocation of committee heads is traditionally carried out according to established parliamentary conventions and proportional representation.
Reacting to the NC’s assertion that 62.5 percent of committee chairmanships in Parliament were allotted to the ruling party and 37.5 percent to the opposition, Sharma alleged that the ruling party was selectively presenting facts to justify the Speaker’s actions.
He said the NC was referring to the 2024 allocation of parliamentary committee heads but was “twisting the facts” to suit its narrative.
“The NC is conveniently ignoring that 62.5 percent of the department-related standing committee chairmanships were allotted to the National Democratic Alliance (15 out of 24) and not solely to the BJP, while 37.5 percent were given to opposition parties (9 out of 24),” Sharma said.
He further argued that if the same principle of proportional representation were applied in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, the BJP should receive three committee chairmanships, the ruling alliance five, and one should go either to independents as a bloc or to another opposition party.
Sharma alleged that the Speaker had instead allotted nearly 89 percent of the Assembly committee chairmanships to the ruling party and its allies, disregarding the representation of opposition parties in the House.
