Srinagar: Amid speculations by political parties over the delimitation exercise in J-K, the Delimitation Commission which completed its four days visit to Union Territory after meeting 290 delegations said that it will carry out the process in a transparent and fair manner. The Commission led by chairperson Justice (R) Ranjana Prakash Desai also comprised Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner KK Sharma.
The Commission met delegations of political parties, civil society groups and political activists. The PDP, however, boycotted the commission saying that it was a pre-planned exercise. The commission had arrived in the UT on July 6 and completed the visit on July 9.
Addressing the press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said that the exercise of redrawing seven new assembly segments will take place in a transparent, fair and judicious manner. Chandra said that there is a huge administrative overlapping of administrative units, constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, hinting that this issue will be addressed during the ongoing exercise. The CEC also said that all the criteria and parameters including population, geography, communications and convenience will be considered.
When asked about the demands of several majority groups and West Pakistan refugees for reservation of assembly segments, the CEC replied: "The delimitation will be done as the census of 2011, delimitation act and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019 with representation to the Scheduled Tribes and Castes." The commission also said that it will visit the Union Territory again before making a draft report of the delimitation. "The draft report will be put in the public domain for comments and feedback of people. After that a final draft will be prepared to be submitted to the government," Chandra added.
The delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir will end by March 2022 and after that seven new assembly seats will increase, said the Delimitation Commission headed by Justice (Retd.) Ranjana Prakash Desai. The Delimitation Commission members, including Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner K.K. Sharma also met the Chief Secretary and demanded that an officer from Jammu and Kashmir be made the nodal officer.
The commission was constituted in March last year to redraw the parliamentary and Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. Initially, the commission was given a year's time to complete the task, however, it was given an extension of one more year by the Union Government in March this year in view of the Covid pandemic.
Three National Conference MPs, Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Abkar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi skipped the first-ever meeting of the delimitation commission that was held in February.
READ: J-K: KPs raise demand for reservation of 5 assembly seats
Jammu and Kashmir UT at present has 83 assembly segments and the tally will be increased to 90 after the delimitation. Twenty-four segments are under the PoK which makes the total seat count 114.
The last delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir was carried out in 1995. As per the delimitation exercise, it was frozen by the Farooq Abdullah government and Supreme Court till the year 2026. However, the BJP government after the abrogation of special status and division of J&K state into two UTS, under the JK Reorganisation Act constituted the commission for redrawing of seven new segments.
