Delimitation Comm to settle claims before final report
BJP, NC leaders submit suggestions individually
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 21: Nearly 700 representations have been filed before the Delimitation Commission by political parties, organizations and individuals during last seven days of claims and objections invited by the Panel after putting the report in public domain on March 14. On last day of filing objections today, major political parties submitted their detailed representations to the Commission.
While National Conference and BJP which had representation in the Commission having three and two Associate Members respectively in their capacity as Lok Sabha MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, had already submitted objections/suggestions to the draft report shared with them, some of their leaders filed objections at individual level. However, other major political parties including Congress, BSP, NPP etc submitted their claims to the Panel today.
The Commission will settle claims and objections either by accepting or rejecting the suggestions. The claims which are accepted by the Panel will reflect in final report which it will be submitting on or before May 6, the extended timeline for finalizing recommendations.
In their exhaustive document sent to the Commission, the Congress has demanded renaming of Jammu East Assembly seat as Temple City, Bahu as Bawe Wali Mata constituency and Thanna Mandi as Shahdara Sharief. It said the people were expecting one additional Lok Sabha seat but the Panel has committed a mistake by making a Lok Sabha constituency by dividing two divisions (Anantnag-Poonch Parliamentary seat). The Party urged the Commission to tour every district during their two-day visit to J&K on March 28 and 29.
Voicing concern over gap in voters in Assembly constituencies, the Congress pointed out that some seats are based on 30,000 and 50,000 votes while others have close to 2 lakh votes. It cited the names of Gurez which was based on 30,000 votes, Paddar which has 51,000 electorates, Dooru which comprised 1.92 lakh voters and Surankote having 1.82 lakh votes.
Similarly, it said, some districts have average one lakh voters per seat while others have 1.3 lakh and 1.4 lakh. It demanded that all such discrepancies should be undone by the Commission in the final report.
NPP Chairman and former Minister Harshdev Singh said the NPP demands three Lok Sabha seats each for Jammu and Kashmir divisions. He added that Dudu and Jakhair Panchayats which were part of Chenani constituency have been linked to Ramnagar seat without any logic. These two Panchayats were part of Chenani when it was SC reserve seat and now again they have been clubbed with Ramnagar which is reserve constituency, Singh said and sought removal of the anomalies.
BSP president Som Raj Majotra has submitted constituency wise suggestions to the Delimitation Commission. The suggestions pertained to Kathua South, Kathua North, Ramgarh, Samba, Nagrota, Raipur Domana, RS Pura-Jammu South and Akhnoor constituencies.
Former Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader Tara Chand has voiced concern over making Khour Assembly constituency as 150 kilometers long by the Delimitation Commission. He demanded that Maira Mandrian and Chowki Choura tehsils be clubbed with Akhnoor while Jourian should be added to Khour segment.
Senior BJP leader Chander Mohan Sharma has demanded that Jammu East Assembly segment be renamed as Jammu Tawi citing that Jammu is deeply associated with river Tawi.
The BJP Associate Members had submitted number of claims and objections to the draft report some of which were accepted while others were rejected. BJP member Jugal Kishore Sharma has also submitted dissent note which along with dissent note of three NC MPs has been attached with the draft report.
NC provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta said since the party view point has already been given to the Delimitation Commission by three Lok Sabha MPs of the party in their capacity as Associate Members of the Panel, some leaders in their individual capacity have forwarded their objections/suggestions.
DDC Ramban Chairperson and NC leader Dr Shamshad Shan in her representation to the Commission has demanded creation of Gool Sangaldan as a new Assembly constituency and unification of tehsil Pogal Paristan.
The leaders of Apni Party have also filed claims before the Commission.
The 18-page dissent note of the National Conference given by the Associate Members stated that the party doesn’t agree with recommendations of the Commission and questioned very constitution of the Panel pending Supreme Court verdict on Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act.
The Commission headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai comprised Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra Sharma and State Election Commissioner KK Sharma while its five Associate Members are Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma, both BJP Lok Sabha members from Jammu division and Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, the three National Conference MPs from Kashmir division.
The Commission has its term till May 6 and there it is likely to submit final report within the timeline.
The Panel was set up on May 6, 2020 with one-year term which was extended by another year on May 6, 2021. While its term was due to expire on May 6, 2022, it was granted two-month extension to complete the task.
Once the delimitation exercise is completed, the number of Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir will go up from 83 to 90.
Twenty-four seats of the Assembly continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK).
While splitting Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories through the Reorganization Act, the Union Home Ministry had increased Assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir by seven taking total seats to 114—24 of which are reserved for PoJK while election will be held for 90 seats.
Erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir had 111 seats including 24 reserved for PoJK while elections were held for 87 seats. With creation of Ladakh as Union Territory, four seats of the region were reduced and the Assembly was left with 83 seats. However, with increase of seven seats, J&K UT will have an Assembly of 90 seats. Two women MLAs will be nominated to the House, which was the position earlier also.
In the previous Assembly, Kashmir had 46 seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh four.
Delimitation of the Assembly constituencies was last held in 1994-95 during the President’s Rule when seats of the erstwhile State Assembly were raised from 76 to 87. Jammu region’s seats were increased from 32 to 37, Kashmir’s from 42 to 46 and Ladakh’s two to four.
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