Despite Panel’s ‘No’, BJP wants one-third PoJK constituencies de-freezed; 3 seats for KPs

The Delimitation Commission receiving memorandum from NC provincial president Devender Singh Rana in Jammu on Thursday.
The Delimitation Commission receiving memorandum from NC provincial president Devender Singh Rana in Jammu on Thursday.

Give due share to all parts of Jammu: NC to Delimitation Comm

Cong stresses fair exercise, NPP for 45 seats each to two regions

BSP seeks 2 more segments for SCs, JKAP for involving stakeholders

Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, July 8: On Day 3 of their visit to the Union Territory, the Delimitation Commission today visited Kishtwar and Jammu and interacted with various political parties, organizations and elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions and received memorandums from them seeking their viewpoint on delimitation of Assembly constituencies for 90-seat Legislature granted to Jammu and Kashmir.

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The Commission headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai and comprising Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner KK Sharma met three Deputy Commissioners of Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban in Kishtwar today and will interact with seven remaining Deputy Commissioners of Jammu region here tomorrow before winding up their four-day first-visit to the Union Territory since the Commission was set up in March 2020.
Barring PDP, delegations from all major political parties and host of organizations besides the District Development Council (DDC) and BDC Chairpersons met the Commission at Kishtwar and Jammu. The PDP had already announced that it will not be meeting the Panel.
A BJP delegation led by party president Ravinder Raina in its meeting with the Commission demanded de-freezing of one-third of seats reserved for Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) for the PoJK refugees living in Jammu.
“We told the Commission that this (de-freezing of PoJK seats) is possible as PoJK had earlier been allocated 25 seats and one of the seats from PoJK was de-freezed and allotted to Mendhar. We want one-third seats of PoJK i.e. eight to be de-freezed by the Panel and these seats be reserved for PoJK refugees living here for past 74 years,” BJP UT chief Ravinder Raina told the Excelsior after meeting with the Commission and submitting them comprehensive memorandum in support of their demand.
Raina said the data pertaining to PoJK refugees was available with the Central Government as each family has been given Rs 5.5 lakh exgratia recently.
As exclusively reported by the Excelsior, the Delimitation Commission has ruled out de-freezing of one-third PoJK seats citing the laws.
Raina said the BJP also demanded reservation of three Assembly seats for Kashmiri Pandits-one each in North, Central and South Kashmir and reservation in the Legislature for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes proportionate to their population.
Dr Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta, both former Deputy Chief Ministers, Sunil Sethi and RS Pathania accompanied Raina in the BJP delegation to the Commission.
The National Conference delegation headed by party’s provincial president Devender Singh Rana said the Delimitation Commission must give its due share to all parts of Jammu region so that our commitment for equitable empowerment of all regions and sub regions does not get dented.
“Jammu and its sub regions whether they are plains of Jammu or the hills of Poonch-Rajouri or the erstwhile Doda district comprising Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban, feel alienated and have a sense of deprivation. There are also geographical and topographical challenges in Jammu region and certain areas are far flung, inaccessible, remote, backward and mountainous and need to get their issues addressed in a manner that they can also be equal partners in the process of democracy by being able to conveniently exercise their franchise,” the memorandum submitted by NC to the Commission said, adding the party is sure that justice will be done to Jammu and Kashmir and to the Jammu region through the Commission.
The National Conference leaders said they were confident that the Commission will work in most transparent, judicious and fair manner providing justice to all in delimiting the constituencies as per the Constitutional framework based on the basic tenants of delimitation—population, geography, topography, area, physical features, contiguity, convenience of administrative units and facilities of easy communication and approachability of public convenience. We feel that decentralization should form core of democracy, all regions or sub regions crave for equal role in the governance where no one should nurture a feeling of subservience or discrimination,” the NC leaders said.
Besides Rana, other NC leaders who were part of the delegation include Surjeet Singh Slathia, Ajay Sadhotra, Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo and Javed Ahmed Rana.
Senior Congress leaders also met the Panel and submitted a memorandum to it reiterating their demand for restoration of Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir for “meaningful delimitation” and restoration of democracy.
“We urged the Commission to adopt fair and transparent exercise (for delimitation of Assembly constituencies) and share the draft proposals in public domain for meaningful inputs by the political parties and public. We also urged them to keep administrative boundaries in mind to avoid inconvenience to the people,” PCC (I) spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said after meeting with the Panel.
Sharma said the Congress urged the Delimitation Commission to recognize and consider demand of SCs, STs, OBCs, Paharis, Sikhs, PoJK refugees, Kashmiri Pandits etc and give them their due share. The Commission should ensure justice to the region and sections in terms of Assembly and Parliamentary seats in accordance with settled norms, he added.
The memorandum was submitted on behalf of Congress leaders including Mula Ram, Raman Bhalla, Ravinder Sharma, Arvinder Singh Micky, Thakur Balbir Singh and Choudhary Mohammad Akram.
The Nationalist Panthers Party headed by Prof Bhim Singh in its meeting with the Delimitation Commission demanded that political discrimination should be undone and both Jammu and Kashmir provinces should be allocated 45 Assembly seats each.
“There has been political tension between two provinces of Jammu and Kashmir mainly because of discrimination in allotment of Assembly seats,” Prof Bhim Singh said and called for 50:50 formula to ease the tensions. He added that Jammu and Kashmir has suffered a lot at the hands of power in Delhi which is evident from the fact that there was no delimitation of the Assembly seats in 1951, 1971 and 1991.
Harshdev Singh, NPP leader and former Minister strongly argued that delimitation of Assembly seats should be held at the earliest and due reservation be given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He called for free and fair Assembly elections and adequate security cover for Panthers Party leaders during political campaigns in Jammu and Kashmir.
Besides Bhim Singh and Harshdev Singh, other NPP leaders who were part of the delegation include PK Ganju, Anita Thakur, Mohammad Iqbal Chowdhary and Parmajit Singh Marshal.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in its memorandum submitted to the Delimitation Commission demanded that two more seats should be reserved for Scheduled Castes in addition to seven seats already reserved for them totaling nine. The BSP also quoted population figures in support of its demand.
“The Other Backward Classes have been provided 27 percent reservation in all States and UT of the country while in Jammu and Kashmir, there is no political reservation for them and only four percent in the jobs,” the BSP memorandum lamented and hoped that the Commission will use its office to provide political reservations to the OBCs in the UT Assembly and Parliament seats.
The BSP also called for fixing educational qualification of SC candidates contesting elections on seats reserved for MPs and MLAs to avoid elections of unqualified persons.
The BSP memorandum was signed by Som Nath Majotra, UT president of the party.
The Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) delegation led by Choudhary Zulfkar Ali, vice president in its meeting with the Delimitation Commission demanded immediate initiation of political process and conducting elections in Jammu and Kashmir saying the UT is being run by bureaucrats, who can’t be substitute to the democratic Government.
They urged the Commission to fast pace the process of delimiting the Assembly constituencies by involving all stakeholders and holding wider deliberations, visiting remote areas, tehsil and district headquarters and taking into account topography, geography and composition of population in Jammu and Kashmir.
The delegation includes Vikram Malhotra, Manjit Singh, Syed Asgar Ali and Haji Mumtaz Ahmed Khan.