Delimitation panel accepts suggestions from five MPs
No, invite from Delimitation Commission so far: Senior National Conference (NC) leader Hasnain Masoodi
The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, which met here today, has accepted some of the suggestions by its associate members (all five Lok Sabha members from the UT), officials said.
Headed by former Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai, the commission will discuss the proposal given by the five MPs. It has to submit its report by May 6.
“The panel held deliberations and accepted certain suggestions given by five associate members. Now we will go back to associate members and share with them the decisions taken today,” said a senior official.
The five associate members are Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma, both Lok Sabha members from the Jammu division, and Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone, and Hasnain Masoodi, National Conference MPs from the Kashmir Valley.
They had submitted their suggestions to the panel on February 14 after a draft proposal was shared with them. Three of the MPs from the Valley have so far opposed the draft recommendations of the commission.
The delimitation commission, set up in March 2020 six months after the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, was formed to redraw the parliamentary and Assembly seats.
The panel was set up with a legislative backup, independent of the government and political parties, in its functioning.
On February 22, the commission was given a two-month extension by the Centre.
Till now, the commission has held two meetings with the associate members, which took place last year on February 18 and December 20. The three NC MPs had boycotted the first meeting, but they participated in the second one.
In December last year, the panel had proposed to increase six seats for the Jammu division and one for the Kashmir division, besides reserving 16 seats for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in the UT which had evoked sharp reactions from the regional parties.
Meanwhile, Senior National Conference (NC) leader Hasnain Masoodi Thursday said that the associate members of his party had not “received any invite for a meeting so far” from the Delimitation Commission.
“Obviously, we are not privy to the details of the suggestions, which have been accepted by the Delimitation Commission. We are not aware of what transpired in the meeting of the commission as it was their internal meeting sans associate members, supposedly to deliberate on the suggestions and objections submitted by the associate members. We too have learned about this development through media reports. The reports suggested that the commission has accepted certain suggestions of the associate members but know nothing beyond this,” Masoodi, who is one of the three associate members of NC, told.
The commission led by its chairperson Ranjana Prakash Desai met in New Delhi Thursday evening to discuss the suggestions and objections submitted by its associate members on February 14.
Following the meeting, the commission officials were quoted in the media saying that it had accepted some of the suggestions of the associate members and they would also be intimated about it.
The commission has five associate members, three from NC and two from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Besides Masoodi, the other four members of the commission are Farooq Abdullah and Muhammed Akbar Lone from NC and Dr. Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma from BJP.
“As far as an invitation or communication from the commission is concerned, it may come to us any time. Generally, the invite is delivered personally. About acceptance of suggestions, our primary suggestion was that the entire exercise should be suspended as it was being held under a ‘constitutionally suspect law’. That hardly seems to be a possibility. We are clueless and will wait for formal communication from the commission,” Masoodi said.
On February 14, NC had submitted in its threshold objection – stating that the Delimitation Commission was created under the Delimitation Act and that the Delimitation Act was not applicable to J&K and had been applicable on August 5, 2019, by Section 96 of the Reorganisation Act.
“Our threshold objection has mentioned that the Reorganisation Act is under judicial scrutiny. The Supreme Court is engaged in examining its constitutional validity so the application and extension of the Delimitation Act to J&K is also under judicial scrutiny. So for the Delimitation Commission, being the creation of the Delimitation Act, it is appropriate to keep its hands off and not to go ahead out of deference to the Supreme Court and out of respect of constitutional ethics. This was our preliminary objection,” Masoodi said.
“Second objection was that the guidelines, prevailing norms, and rules, everywhere in every delimitation exercise, the population is given first preference. This is always the first criterion to be kept in mind. But here shockingly and surprisingly, the commission has pushed it to the back seat,” he said.
Associate members
The associate members are Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma, both Lok Sabha members from the Jammu division, and Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone, and Hasnain Masoodi, National Conference MPs from the Kashmir Valley.
