While the final delimitation commission report on Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s assembly and Lok Sabha seats is out, ending a critical hindrance to holding elections in the union territory, the Kashmir parties have been blaming the delimitation commission for redrawing assembly segments that would benefit one community at the expense of another.<\/p>\n
The People’s Conference (PC) led by Sajad Lone said in a statement that the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission report is a repeat of the past trend of discriminating against Kashmir.<\/p>\n
The panel has rejected the suggestions, especially from the Valley-based parties that award six seats to Jammu and only one to Kashmir despite having more population was not blending to known parameters.<\/p>\n
The BJP hit out at the critics, saying they are bitter because \u2018they are opposed to the Jammu region getting its due after years of discrimination.<\/p>\n
The panel headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Rangana Prakash held a few meetings with top officials of the Election Commission of India and the J and K chief electoral officer before putting the final report in the public domain.<\/p>\n
Sources say apart from accepting suggestions of parties to stick to the original names of constituencies and a bit of pinching to the boundaries, the panel stood determined on its initial draft that awarded six of seven new assembly seats to Jammu.<\/p>\n
Jammu & Kashmir #DelimitationCommission has signed the final order setting the firm boundaries for union territory #JammuAndKashmir.As per the final delimitation order, 43 out of 90 assembly constituencies will be part of the Jammu region and the remaining 47 will be of the Kashmir region.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll that the panel has done is to ensure that the BJP gets an advantage in the elections. How is it that they have ignored the basic parameter of the population to award seats?” Hasnain Masoodi, former senior judge and MP of the National Conference, told News18 recently.<\/p>\n
The Gupkar Alliance had earlier challenged the delimitation exercise, asking why J&K was being singled out for carrying it out when the whole country was anyhow redrawing the constituencies in 2026 as per Supreme Court directions.<\/p>\n
The group had also said that since the matter of abrogation of J&K\u2019s special status is in court and would be likely heard in July, the delimitation process should have waited as both issues are interconnected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe delimitation commission has become an extension of the BJP. We reject it as we don\u2019t trust it. This is an attempt to disempower the people of Jammu and Kashmir,\u201d said PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. \u201cWhat delimitation are you talking about? It has been done to benefit the BJP while flouting basic parameters like population.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gupkar Alliance has been maintaining that the panel has consolidated Hindu votes on one hand and splintered the majority of Muslim votes on the other. In some areas, the group alleged, the panel has culled out new Hindu constituencies.<\/p>\n
With regard to the Lok Sabha seats, the Valley parties and some social activists in Poonch and Rajouri had earlier criticized the commission for clubbing Poonch district and parts of Rajouri areas with the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency to make it one entity. They had argued that despite huge connectivity issues between the two regions \u2014 each falls on either side of the mighty Pir Panjal mountains which remains snow-covered for five months \u2014 the panel went ahead to weld two disparate regions.<\/p>\n
The commission had reasoned that adding Poonch and Rajouri to Anantnag was done to streamline all the five Lok Sabha seats on the basis of equitable population and district ratio. For example, earlier Jammu comprising 10 districts had only two seats while the Valley had three with the same number of districts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our meeting with the panel we had raised this issue only to be told that Lok Sabha seats in both Jammu and Kashmir will now have equal representation and not be lopsided in favor of the Valley,” an NC member told News18.<\/p>\n
The National Conference said, \u201cWe have seen the final recommendations of the Delimitation Commission. We are studying the implications of these recommendations for individual assembly constituencies. No amount of gerrymandering will change the ground reality which is that whenever elections are held the voter will punish the BJP & its proxies for what they have done to J&K over the last 4 years,\u201d it tweeted.<\/p>\n
Valley parties, the Congress, and the Jammu-based Panthers Party have expressed unhappiness over the way seats have been redrawn<\/p>\n
BJP is not complaining which secures the fact that the delimitation lines were made in favor of the BJP and in fact, BJP hit out at the detractors, saying they are upset because \u201cthey are opposed to the Jammu region getting its due after years of discrimination”<\/p>\n
\nJammu & Kashmir #DelimitationCommission<\/a> has signed the final order setting the firm boundries for union territory #JammuAndKashmir<\/a> .As per final delimitation order, 43 out of 90 assembly constituencies will be part of Jammu region and remaining 47 will be that of Kashmir region. pic.twitter.com\/ENIyrATehI<\/a><\/p>\n
— DailyBees (@DailyBees1) May 5, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n