Here’s why the J&K Delimitation Commission draft report has stirred an outcry

The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission’s draft report has evoked strong criticism and objections from political parties across the spectrum, including some of the commission’s associate members.

The commission shared the draft report, which has called for a massive overhaul of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, with its associate members on February 4. Two weeks on, almost every political party in Jammu and Kashmir has opposed the proposed changes.

Political circles in Jammu and Kashmir have called the draft “unacceptable” and say it is “discriminatory” in nature.

Among other things, the commission has proposed the creation of seven new Assembly segments and redrawing of boundaries of some others in its second draft report.

Jammu and Kashmir will have a total of 90 Assembly seats. The number of seats in the Jammu region will increase from 37 to 43, while the seats in the Kashmir region will increase from 46 to 47. Another 24 seats will be reserved for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The commission also proposes to reserve nine seats for Scheduled Tribes, for the first time. Seven seats are proposed to be reserved for Scheduled Castes.

The commission had asked the members to submit their views by February 14 after which the report would be put in the public domain.

The National Conference, which was represented by three leaders in the commission, was the first to challenge the draft report and file an objection before the commission.

“I personally went to the Commission Secretariat and handed over the objections filed by NC Associate members to the draft proposals,” senior NC leader and one of its three associate members Hasnain Masoodi said.

‘Process violates constitutional norms’

Firstly, the National Conference said in its objections that the Delimitation process is against constitutional ethics.

The party pointed out that the formation of the commission is linked to the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, which is under judicial scrutiny.

“The Delimitation Commission has been created under the Delimitation Act, which was not applicable in Jammu and Kashmir till August 5, 2019, under Section 96 of the Reorganisation Act,” Masoodi said.

He said the delimitation process cannot be held when the Supreme Court is yet to deliver its judgment on the implementation of the Reorganisation Act in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The Supreme Court is examining its constitutional validity, so the application and extension of the Delimitation Act to Jammu and Kashmir is also under judicial scrutiny. He said the Centre should have waited for the verdict before going in for delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary seats.

“The principle of constitutional propriety demands that … all the limbs of the state and their institutions should, out of deference to the top constitutional court, desist from implementing such a law till its constitutionality is determined,” Masoodi said.

The People’s Democratic Party, led by former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, has also rejected the delimitation commission and its proposals on the grounds that the body lacks constitutional validity.

“The Reorganisation Act is under judicial scrutiny. All the recommendations given by the associate members have been thrown into the dust bin, ” said senior PDP leader Firdous Tak.

Population criteria not followed

The majority of the political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have challenged the Commission for ignoring the population criteria while reducing or adding new seats. “Population criteria is an essential component to be followed in a delimitation exercise. But here shockingly and surprisingly, the Commission has pushed it to the backseat,” Masoodi said, noting that it has not followed a uniform yardstick in declaring new constituencies.

“The new constituencies carved out to contradict the basic principle followed in the old ones. There is around 67 percent deviation. Padder has a seat for 51,000 people, whereas  Dooru has one seat for 1.92 lakh people. Similarly, Vaishno Devi has a seat for 71,000 people, though it is closer to Jammu,” Masoodi said.

He said that a different yardstick has been followed in the case of Bani and Ramgarh which have seats for 70,000  and 75,000 people, respectively. “Whereas Surankote has a seat for 1.77 lakh people,” Masoodi said.

The National Conference has also accused the commission of overlooking historical aspects in the draft proposals, “The Habba Kadal assembly constitution, which has been removed, is named after the famous Kashmiri queen-poetess.

Amira Kadal is named after Amir Khan, an acclaimed architect, and Batamaloo was named after a Sufi saint. They have been called Srinagar 1 and 2 and 3. Even Shangus has been removed and named Anantnag West. In a way, they (the commission) have tried to convert this exercise into an assault on our culture,’’ said Masoodi.

Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore, the BJP’s two associate members in the commission, are also unhappy. A section of BJP leaders wants the Delimitation Commission to make certain amendments in the draft. Scores of BJP activists from the Suchetgarh area along the international border with Pakistan in the Jammu district have protested against the proposal to merge the assembly constituency with Ranbirsinghpura.

Similarly, there is mounting pressure on the BJP leadership from several leaders as the constituencies they represented in the past have been deleted in the draft and merged with other constituencies.

“Our Member of Parliament held deliberations with our workers and activists, who presented their viewpoint. Our Parliament members have placed these concerns of people before the Commission,” said Jammu and Kashmir BJP President Ravinder Raina. He said the commission needed to re-look at the draft and work on it some more.

“All the seats in Poonch district have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes. I believe at least one seat should have been open and two seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes,” Raina said.

Congress has blamed the Delimitation Commission for ignoring the parameters of population and geography. “Parameters like population for an assembly seat or geography of hilly terrain have been ignored. This draft report is a kind of devastation for Jammu and Kashmir,” alleges Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president GA Mir.

Connectivity and contiguity affected

The third major objection that has come from associate members is over the lack of connectivity and contiguity in the demarcated constituencies. The Commission has proposed major changes in the Anantnag parliamentary seat by removing Pulwama and Shopian and adding Poonch and Rajouri.

Surprisingly, the Shopian area, which connects Poonch and Rajouri via Mughal Road, has been included in Srinagar. All the political parties have opposed the proposal of including Poonch and Rajouri with the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.

“The commission made Rajouri and Poonch part of Anantnag constituency fully knowing that they are two regions separated by the mighty Pir Panchal. For six months, there’s no connectivity at all,” Masoodi said. He added that the addition of Poonch and Rajouri to the Anantnag seat would increase the problems of people from the Pir Panchal regions.

“So people from those places (Poonch, Rajouri) will have to reach Anantnag to meet their representative. This has been done with Poonch and Mendhar and Surankote. A similar experiment has been done with Achchabal, a place in Anantnag that has been joined with Qazigund,” he said.

Congress PCC President Mir also objected to the draft report saying that the hilly terrain parameter has been ignored by the commission. “People of Rajouri and Poonch live in hilly terrain and Anantnag is too far from both these districts, which means a bigger problem for the people,” he said.

Meanwhile, many parts of Jammu and Kashmir have rejected the Delimitation Commission draft report and alleged: “it is being guided by the BJP”.

The People’s Democratic Party(PDP) sees the commission report as a “politics of division” and chaos. “We boycotted the Commission and didn't accept their draft report. This report is the handwork of the internal committee of the BJP and is against the sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” said PDP leader Firdous Tak.

The People’s Conference led by Sajjad Lone said the delimitation exercise is an attempt to disempower and disenfranchise the people of Kashmir. “Irrationalism is an ugly and sad constant in the delimitation exercise,” he said and questioned the proposed formation of a parliamentary constituency by merging South Kashmir and Rajouri.

The Apni Party, led by Altaf Bukhari, rejected the proposals of the Delimitation Commission, saying the process adopted by the panel was unfair and unscientific. “J&K Apni Party once again rejects the draft working papers regarding the delimitation of constituencies in J-K,” it said in a statement. The party said it had rejected the initial draft of the commission as well and had hoped that the panel would consider its recommendations.

The CPI (M) has termed the draft proposal of the Commission ‘unpalatable’. “We have moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Reorganisation Act, under which the delimitation process has been initiated,” said CPI(M) State Secretary Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami.