J&K Delimitation Commission for 6 more seats for Jammu, 1 for SC

New Delhi Dec 20: The Delimitation Commission, tasked with reorganizing legislative constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, has recommended raising of Jammu region’s share of seats by six and Kashmir region’s share by one, sources said here on Monday day after a meeting of the panel.
At present, Jammu region has 37 seats and Kashmir has 46 seats in the 83-member Assembly.
According to a statement by the Delimitation Commission, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar had informed the Commission that since the last delimitation, the number of districts in Jammu and Kashmir, now a Union Territory with Ladakh being carved out as a separate UT, has increased from 12 to 20 and the number of tehsils has gone up from 52 to 207.
The Commission has also, for some districts, proposed carving out of an additional Constituency to balance the representation for geographical areas having inadequate communication and lack of public conveniences due to their inhospitable conditions on international border.
For the first time, in Jammu & Kashmir, nine seats are proposed to be allocated for Scheduled Tribes out of 90 seats on the basis of population. Seven seats are proposed to be reserved for Scheduled Castes, the Delimitation Commission said in an official statement.
Details of the proposal emerged after a meeting of the Commission, which was attended by BJP leader from Jammu and Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh and National Conference President and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, along with his party MP Hasnain Masoodi.
PDP, another major party of Jammu and Kashmir, boycotted the second meeting of the Commission, which lasted for around three hours.
Singh asserted that all stakeholders were satisfied with the work of the delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir but the Kashmir-centric parties like National Conference and PDP cried foul over the proposal of the Commission.
Singh told reporters after the meeting of the Delimitation Commission that the exercise had not been done under any political pressure.
“It was a very cordial meeting and all the associated members, regardless of party or political affiliation, not only appreciated the work done by the Commission, but also committed that they would in future also, for the rest of the exercise, cooperate in all possible ways,” he said.
It has done a “commendable job” and the exercise was done “objectively”, the BJP leader said.
Asked about the PDP boycott, the Union Minister said it amounted to abusing the sanctity of the Constitution, which he said, should not be done by any mature politician.
He claimed that the NC members were satisfied with the Commission.
The proposal, however, stirred a controversy, with politicians from Kashmir questioning the intentions of the BJP government at the Centre.
Former Chief Minister and National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said it was deeply disappointing that the Commission appears to have “allowed the political agenda of the BJP.” “The draft recommendation of the J&K Delimitation Commission is unacceptable. The distribution of newly created assembly constituencies with six going to Jammu and only one to Kashmir is not justified by the data of the 2011 census,” he said, calling it “deeply disappointing”.
Another former Chief Minister and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti said the “real game plan is to install a government in J&K which will legitimise the illegal and unconstitutional decisions of August 2019”.
“My apprehensions about the Delimitation Commission weren’t misplaced. They want to pitch people against each other by ignoring the population census & proposing six seats for one region and only one for Kashmir,” she tweeted.
Peoples Conference President Sajjad Lone said the “recommendations reek of bias”.
Meanwhile, asked when Assembly elections could be held in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said the decision will be taken by the Election Commission.
The Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir was dissolved in August 2019 when the state was converted into a Union Territory and split by making Ladakh a separate Union Territory.
The Central government has constituted the Delimitation Commission, headed by Justice (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai, to redraw the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in J&K. It includes the Chief Election Commissioner or Election Commissioner and state election commissioners.
Delimitation refers to redrawing boundaries of an assembly or Lok Sabha constituency to reflect changes to the population of the region. As per the mandate of the commission, the delimitation exercise is based on the 2011 census and population is the sole criteria for redrawing assembly seats.