Political storm brewing in J&K as delimitation commission proposes 6 new seats for Jammu, 1 for Kashmir

The delimitation commission is learnt to have proposed six additional seats for Jammu region and only one for Kashmir Valley raising a political storm in the valley.

Srinagar: The recommendations of the delimitation commission carving out new assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir have raised a political storm in Kashmir as political parties accuse the commission of being biased.

The delimitation commission which met in New Delhi on Monday is learnt to have proposed six additional seats for Jammu region and only one for Kashmir Valley in its 'Paper 1' discussed with five associate members.

Nine seats have been proposed for STs and seven for SCs in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said. This is the first time that seats have been proposed for STs in Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

The associate members - five Lok Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir - attended the meeting. They have been asked to respond to the proposal by the end of this month.

Union minister Jitendra Singh and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were among those who attended the meeting.

The recommendations, however, have kicked a major controversy in Kashmir.

Former chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said that contrary to the promised "scientific approach", the commission adopted a "political approach".

"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,” Omar tweeted.

“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 its only consideration. Contrary to the promised “scientific approach” it’s a political approach,” he said.

PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said her apprehensions about the delimitation commission were not misplaced.

"They want to pitch people against each other by ignoring the population census & proposing 6 seats for one region & only one for Kashmir," she tweeted.

"This commission 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," she said.

Former minister and Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone said that the recommendations of the delimitation commission are totally unacceptable.

“They reek of bias. What a shock for those who believe in democracy,” Lone tweeted.

PDP chief spokesman Suhail Bukhari said that the apprehensions of the party about the commission were right.

“PDP from the day one had raised doubts about the commission being politically influenced by the ruling BJP. And today, our apprehensions proved right,” he said.

Headed by Justice (R) Ranjana Prakash Desai, the delimitation commission was constituted by the Union Ministry for Law and Justice on March 6, 2020, eight months after the abrogation of special status and division of Jammu and Kashmir state into a Union Territory.

The Ministry had mentioned that the term of the chairperson of the Commission will be for a period of one year, which will expire on March 5, 2021.

Besides Justice Desai, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, the delimitation commission members include Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioner and KK Sharma, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Jammu and Kashmir.

The Associate Members included are Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, all Lok Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir.

Former Jammu and Kashmir state had 111 seats including 24 reserved for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

After the division of J&K into two Union Territories, the number of assembly seats has been increased to 90, with four seats of Ladakh UT abolished. Two seats have been reserved for women.

However, with an increase of seven seats, J&K UT will now have an Assembly of 90 seats. In the previous Assembly, Kashmir had 46 seats, Jammu 37, and Ladakh four.

The delimitation of the Assembly constituencies was last held in 1994-95 during the President’s Rule when seats of the erstwhile State Assembly were raised from 76 to 87.

Jammu region’s seats were increased from 32 to 37, Kashmir’s from 42 to 46, and Ladakh’s from two to four.

However, the delimitation was frozen in 2002 by the then National Conference Government headed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah in line with the decision taken by the Central Government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Elections to the Legislative Assembly will be held only after the delimitation of Assembly constituencies is completed.

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