Objections invited against non-existent report
Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Dec 26: Former minister and NPP chairman Harsh Dev Singh has alleged that Delimitation Commission has invited objections for a ‘non-existent’ report and the associate members have been taken for a ride by it.
“The Delimitation Commission during its meeting with associate members has invited objections from the latter with regard to the process of delimiting of the 90 seats. The delimitation, however, is nowhere in sight and nor was any draft circulated amongst the members. And neither has any report been shared with media or put in public domain. No one knows exactly which seats are proposed for reservation and which are to be de-reserved giving rise to speculations and rumors being spread in the public and social media. This has also led to public unrest in several areas due to fake, unauthenticated reports being circulated”, said NPP chairman while addressing public meeting at Bharat Nagar, in Udhampur today.
Singh said that it was amusing to note that after a period of 21 months since its constitution, the Delimitation Commission had nothing to share with the Associate members except a verbal statement that 9 seats were to be reserved for STs, 7 for SCs and out of 7 additional seats, 6 seats were proposed for Jammu region and 1 for Kashmir. Neither the names of reserved seats were shared, nor were the members apprised of the names of 7 new Assembly seats. The members were simply asked to give their objections/comments with regard to the aforesaid proposal without elucidating them. The Delimitation Commission remained silent over the names of the proposed 90 constituencies or the territorial jurisdiction of the said seats thereby making a mockery of the members so invited in the meeting, he added.
Referring to the Delimitation Commission’s statements over the number of reserved seats for STs and SCs, Singh said that there was nothing new in it. The J&K Reorganization Act passed in August 2019 had envisaged 90 Assembly seats for J&K UT and in view of existing 10% reservation of STs and 8% for SCs, it was a matter of common sense that 9 seats would go to STs and 7 to SCs. So what has the Delimitation commission practically done to actually delimit the 90 seats assigned to it, was the pertinent question which unfortunately none of the Associate members raised in the meeting.
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