Delimitation Storm
In a surprising development,More than two years after the state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories in August 2019, and article 370 abrogated in a recent move the Delimitation Commission proposal has suggested adding six new legislative seats for Jammu and just one for Kashmir. This has created much uproar especially in the valley of Kashmir with stiff reaction coming to the decision .
After the meeting of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) members in Jammu recently, the spokesperson of the body, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, said that the proposals of the Delimitation Commission are divisive and not in the interests of the people of J&K.
The meeting of PAGD came after the Delimitation Commission proposed one seat for Kashmir and six seats for the Jammu region. Following the meeting, Tarigam, who was flanked by Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and other members of the PAGD, said that the proposals of the Delimitation Commission are not in the interests of the people of J&K and are divisive.
“By keeping in view the 2011 census population, if the seats are to be increased, then there should be some benefit by it,” said Tarigami. He also questioned whether the constitution, rules and laws are still out of operation in J&K.
Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party recently held twin high level meetings at its offices in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu and M2 Church Lane, Srinagar over the recent Delimitation Commission draft proposal. The meetings were presided by party President Syed Muhammad Altaf Bukhari in Srinagar and Party Senior Vice President Ghulam Hassan Mir in Jammu. As per a party spokesman, the meetings primarily focused on the recent proposal of Delimitation Commission “that was outrightly rejected by the party while demanding the commission to revisit the draft”.
On the other hand , Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone on Sunday said that National Conference’s U-turn to participate in the delimitation commission’s meeting has legitimized the grossly unfair proposals.So what actually is delimitation.The Election Commission of India describes it as the “act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province (state or Union Territory) having a legislative body.” The process may also entail a change in the number of Lok Sabha seats allotted to different states, as well as in the number of Legislative Assembly seats for each state.According to reports, the commission has proposed the reservation of seven seats for Scheduled Castes and nine for Scheduled Tribes. It has also proposed the reservation of 24 seats for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).On ground zero , Regional parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC), have protested that the Delimitation Commission has not only “ignored the principle of population” while carving out the new constituencies, it has also “helped the BJP increase the Hindu footprint” in J&K. BJP leaders, however, deny these allegations.
The nutshell reality is that delimitation has created much uproar .
