The Bill in Parliament: Dates and Votes

Where the Bill started

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 (Bill No. XXIX of 2019) was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 5 August 2019 by Home Minister Amit Shah, on the recommendation of the President under Article 3.

How it passed

Why 31 October?

31 October is the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who is remembered for the integration of the princely States, and is observed as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day).

Constitutional basis

• The Act was made by Parliament under Articles 3 and 4, which let Parliament form new States and Union Territories, alter areas, boundaries and names, by an ordinary law (a simple majority, not a Constitutional Amendment).
• The proviso to Article 3 requires the President to refer such a Bill to the State Legislature for its views, but those views are only recommendatory. They are not binding on Parliament.
• It is widely described as the first time in independent India that a State in its present form was converted into Union Territories by an Act of Parliament. (Earlier, States went the other way: Himachal Pradesh, Goa and others rose from Union Territory to State.)