Art 370 Abrogated: President Kovind gives his assent to J&K Reorganisation Bill 2019

On Friday, President Kovind gave his assent to the Jammu and Kashmir reorganisation bill which looks to divide the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The former will be with a legislature and the latter without.

The Lok Sabha passed the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 with 370 votes in favour and 70 against it. The bill strips Jammu and Kashmir's status of a state and converts it into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without legislature.

It also passed resolution revoking Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, with Home Minister Amit Shah stating that history will decide if the decision to repeal the constitutional provision is right or wrong.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 was passed by Rajya Sabha after MPs voted on the bill using paper ballot due to a technical glitch in the electronic voting system.

The government revoked Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and proposed that the state be bifurcated into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.