21 February,2009 04:18 PM IST | | Agencies
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has resigned as member of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly after getting elected as member of the Rajya Sabha.
Azad submitted his resignation on February 19 to pro-tem speaker of J&K assembly Choudhary Mohammad Aslam, who has accepted it, secretary of the house M Ramzan said today.
Azad, who became an MLA from Bhaderwah segment in Doda district for a second straight term in polls late last year, was elected in biennial elections to Rajya Sabha uncontested on February 6. He was the only MLA in the entire state to defeat his nearest rival by a margin as high as nearly 30,000 votes in 2008 assembly elections.
Meanwhile, former chief minister and president of National Conference (NC) Farooq Abdullah, who too has been elected in recent biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, has not yet quit his assembly seat of Sonawar constituency, Ramzan said. Abdullah had won two assembly seats of Hazratbal and Sonawar. He had later resigned from Hazratbal.
J&K assembly has a total strength of 89 members with 87 elected and two nominated. The effective strength after Azad and Abdullah's resignation is 87 and would be 86 after the NC president quits his second assembly seat.u00a0
