J&K parties deem Delimitation Commission’s draft proposal 'unacceptable'

Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday in one voice rejected the Delimitation Commission’s proposal to increase the number of Assembly seats in Jammu region by six against one in the Valley.

In a draft proposal discussed during its meeting in New Delhi with five associate members, the Commission, headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai, has increased the number of Assembly seats in Jammu region from 37 to 43 while in Kashmir the tally has been increased from 46 to 47.

The Delimitation Commission has categorised all 20 districts in the Union Territory in three broad categories A, B and C giving a margin of +/- 10% of average population per assembly constituency, while proposing allocation of the constituencies to the districts. The commission has also, for some districts, proposed carving out an additional constituency to balance the representation for geographical areas having inadequate communication and lack of public conveniences due to their excessive remoteness or inhospitable conditions on the international border, according to a press release issued in New Delhi.

Nine seats are proposed to be allocated for the Scheduled Tribes out of 90 seats on the basis of population, for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir. Seven seats are proposed for Scheduled Castes.

The commission requested the associate members to furnish views, comments and suggestions by December 31.

The Commission on Monday called five J&K Member Parliaments, including National Conference’s (NC) Farooq Abdullah, Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, BJP’s Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma. The panel has asked the associate members to submit their suggestions by the end of December.

Read more: Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission ready with report on resizing of constituencies

In its first paper drafted by the Commission, nine seats have been proposed for Schedule Tribes and seven for Scheduled Castes in Jammu and Kashmir, while 24 seats are expected to remain in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

However, Kashmir based political parties in one voice termed the proposal of the Commission as unacceptable.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted: “My apprehensions about the Delimitation Commission weren’t misplaced. They want to pitch people against each other by ignoring the population census & proposing 6 seats for one region & only one for Kashmir.”

“This commision has been created simply to serve BJPs political interests by dividing people along religious & regional lines. The real game plan is to install a government in J&K which will legitimise the illegal & unconstitutional decisions of August 2019 (sic),” she added.

NC vice president and former CM Omar Abdullah in a tweet said: “The draft recommendation of the J&K delimitation commission is unacceptable. The distribution of newly created assembly constituencies with 6 going to Jammu & only 1 to Kashmir is not justified by the data of the 2011 census.”

“It is deeply disappointing that the commission appears to have allowed the political agenda of the BJP to dictate its recommendations rather than the data which should have been it’s only consideration. Contrary to the promised “scientific approach” it’s a political approach,” he said in another tweet.

J&K People’s conference chief Sajad Lone, who was a cabinet minister on BJP quota in the erstwhile J&K government from 2015-2018 said it was a shock to those who believe in democracy.

“The recommendations of the delimitation commission are totally unacceptable. They reek of bias. What a shock for those who believe in democracy,” he tweeted.

J&K Apni Party, which is believed to be a proxy of the BJP, too rejected the proposal. “J&K Apni Party rejects the proposal of the delimitation commission. This is out-rightly unacceptable to us. We demand a fair delimitation exercise without any bias, taking population and districts as the base. We strongly demand the GoI to intervene,” the party said in a statement.

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