Kashmir: Delimitation a thorny issue between NDA govt and regional parties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for early completion of delimitation exercise in the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir has not gone well with Vice President of the National Conference, Omar Abdullah and he has strongly opposed the ongoing delimitation exercise. This has led to serious speculation that the delimitation exercise is going to be a complex issue between the central government and regional political parties of the Valley, writes ETV Bharat Deputy News Editor Krishnanand Tripathi.

New Delhi: The ongoing delimitation exercise is going to be a thorny issue between the NDA government at the Centre and regional political parties in the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir as Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized on early completion of delimitation exercise so that the erstwhile state can get an elected government.

The delimitation exercise, which will arrange the UT’s population in the new assembly and parliamentary constituencies, will unsettle the existing political calculation, a move strongly opposed by Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, who was present in the meeting of political parties called by the Prime Minister on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tweet

“Delimitation has to happen at a quick pace so that polls can happen and J&K gets an elected Government that gives strength to J&K’s development trajectory,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet after the meeting. The Prime Minister said his government’s priority was to strengthen grassroots level democracy in Jammu & Kashmir.

Delimitation, election important for restoring statehood: Home Minister

Home Minister Amit Shah said the delimitation exercise and peaceful elections were important milestones in restoring statehood as promised in parliament. In the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, which was bifurcated into two Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh in August 2019, elections were conducted on 87 seats and 24 seats were reserved for the area occupied by Pakistan, known as Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

After the bifurcation of Jammu & Kashmir into the two Union territories, 4 assembly seats fell in the Union territory of Ladakh. Under the earlier arrangement, the Kashmir valley region had 46 seats while the Jammu region had 37 seats. In the last assembly election held in 2014, Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (JKPDP) won 28 seats, followed by the BJP (25), Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (15), Indian National Congress (12), JK People’s Conference (2), CPM (1) and independent candidates were able to win 3 seats.

The hung assembly resulted in the BJP and PDP joining hands to form the government with Mehbooba Mufti as the first woman Chief Minister of the state. The BJP-PDP coalition government lasted till June 2018 when the BJP withdrew its support and the former state was placed under President’s rule. However, under the ongoing delimitation exercise, the existing assembly constituencies will be redrawn, a move that was resisted by both the PDP and Farooq Abdulla led JK National Conference.

After the meeting, Jitendra Singh, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, said the issue of everyone’s participation in the delimitation exercise was thoroughly discussed in the meeting. “All political parties present in the meeting have expressed their consent to participate in the (delimitation) exercise,” Singh said in a statement.

Omar Abdullah opposes delimitation exercise

However, Omar Abdulla, Vice President of the National Conference, strongly opposed the ongoing delimitation exercise. “If the idea of the decision taken in August 2019 was to bring the state of Jammu and Kashmir at par with the rest of India then the ongoing delimitation exercise defeats the very purpose,” Omar Abdullah said in a press conference following the meeting with Prime Minister Modi.

Abdullah said the delimitation exercise in the rest of the country will be done in 2026 and only Jammu & Kashmir has been singled out for the delimitation exercise before holding the assembly elections. Talking about the discussion with the Prime Minister, Abdullah said his party demanded the restoration of full statehood to Jammu & Kashmir and it would continue to fight the legal battle in the Supreme Court. “We told the Prime Minister and the Home Minister that we are not with the decision which was taken in August 2019,” he told the reporters.