BJP MLAs staged a sit-in protest inside the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on the opening day of its autumn session to oppose a recent average power tariff hike of about 6.83 percent that took effect on September 1. Gathering before the Speaker with placards and slogans, the legislators also demanded action on long-pending demands from National Health Mission employees and the regularisation of daily-wage workers. Leader of the Opposition Sunil Sharma argued the tariff increase broke a promise of 200 units of free electricity, while other parties indicated plans to raise issues including reservation, basic services, worker regularisation, and the restoration of full statehood during the seven-sitting session running from September 21 to September 30.
Away from the Assembly chamber, leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party held a separate protest outside the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar regarding the region’s long-delayed reservation policy, resulting in police detaining some demonstrators. Apni Party leader Mohammad Ashraf Mir stated that a promise to make the policy public within six months had gone unfulfilled even two years later, leaving open-merit category students in limbo. The protests highlight ongoing friction between the elected Assembly and the Union Territory’s administrative arrangement as political parties press various livelihood grievances.