B L Saraf
Among some far reaching decisions GOI made on 5th Aug 2019, was the one to increase number of assembly seats in the newly created UT of Jammu and Kashmir and make provision for reservation for STs. Sections 59, 60, 61-63 of the J&K Reorganization Act 2019 were to take care of the emerging situation. To achieve the purpose, setting up of the Delimitation Commission became a necessity. This decision resulted in setting aside the one made by the erstwhile State assembly: according to which the delimitation business in J&K had been put on hold, till 2016. Purportedly, that was done as a follow up of the decision of the Central Government which had stalled the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies, till 2026.
Central Government Constituted a Delimitation Commission in January this year. It is headed by Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai and has a mandate to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Alongside, the Commission has to discharge the same job in some North Eastern States also. As convention demanded, NC president Farooq Abdullah and other MPs of Jammu and Kashmir were nominated by the Lok Sabha Speaker as associate members of the Delimitation Commission.
National Conference has, however, declined the offer. While rejecting the nomination the Party said in a statement “This Delimitation Commission is a product of the J& K Reorganization Act 2019 which JK NC is challenging in and outside the Supreme Court. Participating in this Delimitation Commission will be tantamount to accepting the events of 5th August 2019 which the NC is unwilling to do .
Legalities apart, Farooq Abdullah’s, unexpressed but quite discernible, grouse is that the delimitation process will ‘distort’ electoral landscape of Jammu and Kashmir and tilt the balance in favor of a particular region, at the cost of other. May be so? But this is no ground to abstain from the proceedings. Politicians across the countries are known to have indulged in Gerrymandering the electoral ground time to time, suit to their electoral convenience . NC and other local politicians-including those who had allegiance to a national party-have done it in J&K when they were at the helm. So, NC and its president don’t have political credentials to allege so. His party and others of Kashmir origin have been guilty on this score. In the past, they used the delimitation as a tool to carve out assembly segments in such a way and of such a demography as would secure their vote bank and exclude which they thought were inconvenient voter segments. The constituencies were split in a manner as to nearly disfranchise many a voter -considered not ‘amenable ‘ . Some were treated as political orphans and deliberately denied a say in the electoral politics of state – more so in the Valley. The powers that be in the state resorted to the Gerrymandering without any moral compunction, just to cut out the ‘ inconvenient flab ‘ and make secure their winning chances, permanently.
More by design than default, the influential political forces in the Valley saw to it that the already marginalized minorities become totally irrelevant in the electoral game played in the state. Assembly constituencies where minorities could exert some influence were torn asunder so as to take them out of the reckoning. Habbakadal, Rainawari – now Sonwar in Srinagar ; Devsar and Anantnag in south Kashmir fell to the skewed Gerrymandering. Because, these were the constituencies where KP voters could matter -a bit-in the electoral calculus. The phenomena came to be witnessed across the regions -Ladakh included . The knowledgeable observers have been saying that just to retain grip on the political and administrative structure of the state, number of seats kept on ever increasing in the Valley where as it remained almost static in Jammu region. Not only that, the reservation rule was so employed in Jammu region that some constituencies got stuck in the reserved mode for decades together , making mockery of the rotation rule applicable to the process .
Now that the stream has started to change the course and an attempt is on to correct the ‘distortion’ we hear a boycott cry . One can understand what can be going through the minds of Kashmir centric politicians. And one can also appreciate how bitter it will be for them to taste the medicine which, for long and to their benefit, they have been administering to the electoral politics of the erstwhile state.
Farooq Abdullah and the NC may have an argument for not associating with the Delimitation process as they have challenged the validity of the Reorganization Act. The argument could be founded on a legal nicety as it could be embedded in the political ground. But matter, in spirit, is solely a political one where legal niceties take a back seat. So, some would argue that the NC by associating with the Delimitation Commission may be in a position to salvage something from the ” ruins “‘ caused by the 5th Aug 2019 tornado. Because, they say the political situation, as it prevails today – is going to stay for long unless the Supreme Court upturns it. It is further argued that-probably with some merit – that NC’s act is as obdurate as it has been when the party, rather insensitively, refused to consider humanitarian issues of WP Refugees and the Safai Karamcharis (Balmikis) – brought in by State Government from outside, in 1950s , to do the scavenging job in Jammu . The obduracy , some well meaning persons hold, has cost J&K too much.
We understand that the Delimitation business is not going to be a panacea of our ills. It has to contend with number of legal and political issues that may upset the apple cart. POK displaced persons , Sikhs and KPs have expressed their apprehensions. Under these circumstances it would be advisable for the NC- which still commands respect and following among a significant section of the UT’s electorate- to revisit the boycott call and be a part of the exercise so that something is retrieved from the political debris. The party can do so without prejudice to its known stand on the ‘core issue and by reserving its rights to go ahead with the legal challenge it has mounted on the Aug 5th 2019 developments.
True, the associated members can’t have much say in the Delimitation proceedings . Their role is advisory : they can’t force their view on the outcome . But their presence , alone, may have a salutary effect ; otherwise the forces ,N C considers ‘inimical ‘ to the ‘K’ cause , will run away with the game. It is no wisdom to leave field open for the political upstarts and professional party hoppers .
(The author is former Principal District & Sessions Judge)
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