The Delimitation Commission constituted to redraw assembly seats in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has proposed six seats for Jammu and one seat for Kashmir, leading to a strong protest from valley-based political parties. A meeting of the Commission was held in New Delhi today in which Union minister Jitendra Singh and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were present.
The regional parties alleged that the exercise appeared to have been carried out to further the BJP’s political agenda. Expressing his displeasure, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said that the recommendation is unacceptable and ‘the commission appears to have allowed the political agenda of the BJP to dictate its recommendations’.
“The draft recommendation of the J&K delimitation commission is unacceptable. The distribution of newly created assembly constituencies with 6 going to Jammu and only 1 to Kashmir is not justified by the data of the 2011 census. 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 it’s only consideration. Contrary to the promised ‘scientific approach’ it’s a political approach,” said Abdullah on Twitter.
People’s Conference (PC) chairman Sajad Lone said the recommendations reek of bias. “The recommendations of the delimitation commission are totally unacceptable. They reek of bias. What a shock for those who believe in democracy,” said Lone.
PDP spokesman Syed Suhail Bukhari said the recommendations vindicated the apprehension of his party that the exercise was carried out in furtherance of the BJP agenda.
“The proposed recommendations of the Delimitation Commission vindicate the apprehension as expressed by our party that something is fishy. This whole exercise which is being done in Jammu and Kashmir is being done on behalf of the BJP to fulfil their political goals. This is the reason that the proposal that gives six seats to Jammu and one to Kashmir is not correct from any point. You can see the population census, there is no justification for it. The core agenda of the BJP and the central government is to further divide the people of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of region and religion. This commission has worked to achieve that goal….We completely reject these recommendations,” Bukhari said in Hindi.
He said the PDP and people of Jammu and Kashmir will not accept these recommendations and fight them tooth and nail. The Delimitation Commission is headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai. Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra is an ex-officio member of the panel.
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