The commission redrawing poll constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir had on Monday proposed adding six assembly seats in the Jammu region and one in Kashmir
Even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have welcomed the draft proposal of the delimitation commission, granting six of the seven additional assembly seats in the union territory to Jammu, leaders of other political parties have termed it as an unbalanced act which will further aggravate divisions among the people of J&K.
The commission redrawing poll constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir had on Monday proposed adding six assembly seats in the Jammu region and one in Kashmir.
The three-member delimitation commission also proposed reserving nine seats for scheduled tribes and seven for scheduled castes, a first in the Union Territory. The panel presented the draft to five associate members, who belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Conference, and asked for their responses by December 31. If the proposal is cleared, the total number of poll constituencies will rise from 83 to 90, with 43 in the Jammu region and 47 in Kashmir. 24 seats will be kept aside for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. In the current state House, Jammu has 37 members and Kashmir has 46.
Former J&K deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta said the draft proposal of the delimitation commission has done justice to the people of the Jammu division. “Our region (Jammu) has more area and population. This is for the first time that the people of Jammu have got their due share. The 2011 census was manipulated by those in power; now all wrong things have been set right by the delimitation commission. We are happy with the creation of new seats in the UT.”
J&K state Congress president Raman Bhalla said they have asked for the draft of the proposal issued by the delimitation commission.
“Only after going through the draft can we express our views. But one thing is clear; this will create divisions within the people of the two provinces. BJP is doing this to just satisfy its ego. Otherwise, there are proper guidelines on how such things should be done.”
National Panthers Party chairman Harsh Dev Singh said the delimitation commission is working at the behest of BJP. “They just want to create a misunderstanding between the people of J&K. This delimitation should be done on merit. The aim of the delimitation commission is only to give BJP an opportunity for proxy rule in J&K. The commission should have told all the associate members which seats and regions they are carving out fresh in J&K. So, they (commission) has failed to accomplish anything during these 21 months. They want people to fight with each other so that elections get delayed and the BJP gets to rule J&K through its proxies.”
Labha Gandhi, president of, West Pakistan Refugee Action Committee, said that delimitation should be done as per the population and census criteria. “People in Kashmir are protesting because they think that by giving more seats to Jammu, the region will have closer seats to Kashmir,” Gandhi said after decades, they got the voting rights and the Commission should reserve some seats for West Pakistan refugees.
PAGD spokesman and CPI(M) general secretary, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, said on Monday night that a draft recommendation of the Delimitation Commission is divisive and unacceptable. “It is another step to further disempower Kashmiris politically. It will increase gaps between regions and communities.”
He said the constitution of the Delimitation Commission under the J&K Reorganisation Act-2019 in itself is questionable as the Reorganisation Act has been challenged in the Supreme Court. “The constitution of Delimitation Commission was akin to contempt of the court as to how can the government of India do so when the matter is sub-judice.”
He said they will continue with their legal and political fight against the arbitrary, unconstitutional, and undemocratic decisions of the BJP government.
