The ball is now over in the court of the Delimitation Commission, which had given December 31 as a deadline to its members to submit their objections and suggestions over its draft recommendations.
BJP leaders have supported the recommendations. Congress Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir termed the house arrest of NC and PDF leaders as unethical and undemocratic, but he did not comment on the draft recommendations of the Delimitation on social media.
Earlier on December 26 the senior Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad dozed over the issue telling media in Srinagar that entire Jammu Kashmir is a single territory for him and he lauded efforts of security forces to fight the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. But neither Ahmad nor Azad rejected or supported the draft recommendations so far.
The activists of NC and PDF however hit the streets in Srinagar on Saturday whose pictures were flashed on social media by the leaders, with the workers shouting slogans against the central government demanding restoration of Article 370.
Omar Abdullah and Mahboob Mufti took to the social media broadcasting their protest tweeting that their confinement was illegal. They tweeted they opposed the draft of delimitation Commission and insisted on restoration of the Article 370.
As a matter of fact, Delimitation commission has proposed nine seats for STs and seven seats for SCs out of a total of 90 assembly seats- 43 seats for Jammu region and 47 seats for Kashmir valley- in the newly created Union Territory. This has been done to give representation to hitherto "underprivileged and backward sections of the troubled Himalayan state for the first time, stated the panel.
The reaction to the proposed recommendations of the Delimitation panel has come out along the expected lines, with estranged political parties or groups terming the proposals as “unacceptable”.
The citizens and civil society groups have also evoked a mixed response over the recommendations. Leaders representing the tribals and underprivileged sections are supporting the recommendations as they would get their share of pie in the new political cake by getting representations for the first time in UT of Jammu and Kashmir, revealed the sources.
As many as nine seats are proposed to be allocated for the schedule tribes (STs) and seven seats are reserved for Schedule Caste (SCs) for the first time in the UT after the Centre passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, scrapping the Article 370 from J and K. The commission has sought suggestions or comments on these recommendations from all members by December 31, 2021.
The panel has recommended 90 seats out of which it has proposed six additional seats for the Jammu region and one seat for the Kashmir valley. Earlier there were 83 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir.
The panel headed by Justice (retd) Ms. Ranjana Prakash Desai in the presence of Election Commissioner of India, state election Commissioner of union territory of Jammu and Kashmir had met all the five associate members -Dr Farooq Abdullah, MP, Dr. Jitender Singh, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Hasnain Masoodi, MP, Jugal Kishore Sharma, MP on December 20.
The panel also had the second meeting with all the associate members for the purposes of delimitation that day. The Delimitation Commission had met earlier on February 18, 2020.
Chief election commissioner in his remarks said that the Delimitation Commission is doing its work, keeping the interest of the common people of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir in mind.
He said Reorganisation Act Jammu and Kashmir specifies that all constituencies shall have practicable units, geographically compact areas, physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public conveniences.
All the associated member appreciated the fact that this Commission visited the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and met large number of people and listened to them in person.
Chandra Bhushan Kumar, senior deputy election commissioner had given detailed presentation on the work done. He explained that they have taken all the factors including number of districts, density of population and other factors into consideration before Delimitation Commission categorised all 20 districts in three broad categories of A, B, C, giving margin of plus or minus 10% of average population per assembly constituency before they proposed allocation of the constituencies.
The Commission shared paper-one describing the proposed seat allocation at the level of districts with all the members with the request to furnish views and suggestions by December 31st 2021, said KN Bhar, secretary, Delimitation Commission.
J and K People Conference Chief Saajad Lone had reacted as saying that the “recommendations of commission are unacceptable as they reek of bias”.
The netizens from Jammu and Kashmir have reacted with a welcome response, saying that at least some attempt has been made to do justice for the “underprivileged and forgotten people and the remote backward areas to have their say in the democracy”.
The ball is now in court of the Delimitation Commission to take a final call on its draft recommendations.
(Kuldeep Chauhan is Editor, HimbuMail)
