Srinagar/ Jammu, Aug. 12 -- Political parties in J&K have strongly reacted to the Ministry of Home Affairs written response in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh saying the powers to nominate five members to the legislative assembly rest with the lieutenant governor. Last month the MHA while replying to the HC had mentioned that the nomination of five legislators rests with J&K LG Manoj Sinha. However, leaders of various political parties have strongly reacted to MHA's response with former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti terming it as "blatant subversion of democratic principles" and urged the Omar Abdullah government to challenge this "undemocratic precedent" because "silence now would be complicity later". The affidavit was filed in response to a plea of Congress leader Ravinder Sharma challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 15, 15-A and 15-B of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which made provisions for the lieutenant governor to nominate five members of the legislative assembly over and above the sanctioned strength. Following response of the union home ministry before the HC describing nomination of five MLAs to the legislative assembly as its prerogative, petitioner in the MLA nomination case, advocate and senior Congress leader Ravinder Sharma on Monday said that he will file a rejoinder to the reply submitted by the BJP government at the Centre before the Jammu and Kashmir HC fixed the date for the final hearing. The matter is listed for August 14, when the prayer for fixing the date of the final hearing will be made and decided in open court. Senior Supreme Court lawyer Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi is representing Ravinder Sharma in the case. "Government of India's reply was filed at the eleventh hour after several extensions and the petitioner now has the right to respond. We shall examine the reply with our senior lawyers and then seek time to file a rejoinder before the court on the date fixed for the final hearing," Sharma told reporters here. Sharma, a former MLC and chief spokesperson of the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee, further said that as a petitioner, he has challenged provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act that allow the lieutenant governor to nominate five MLAs without the aid and advice of the council of ministers, and in excess of the sanctioned strength of the J&K Assembly-114 members (90 elected and 24 reserved for PoJK). "The five nominations are over and above the total strength of 114, which is wrong," Sharma asserted. "Moreover, such nominations can turn a minority into a majority, or a majority into a minority, which goes against the basic structure of the Constitution", he added. In a post on X, the PDP president said, "GOI's (Government of India's) decision to nominate five MLAs in J&K after holding elections is a blatant subversion of democratic principles. Nowhere else in the country does the Centre handpick legislators to override the public mandate. In India's only Muslim-majority region, long marred by conflict, this move feels less like governance and more like control." National Conference chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq also raised questions over the decision and called it "contempt for people's mandate". CPI(M) leader and legislator Kulgam, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami said that the Union Home Ministry's justification for empowering the LG of Jammu and Kashmir to nominate five members to the Legislative Assembly is a clear attempt to "undermine the electoral democratic process in the region"....