Centre gearing up to hold Assembly polls in J&K ?

“The Commission will be formally constituted once the names of sitting/retired Supreme Court Judge and representative of the J&K Government are received by the MHA”.

Narendra Modi led Union government has finally kick-started the process of setting up of delimitation commission in Jammu and Kashmir.

The move is aimed at demarcating boundaries of Assembly constituencies before holding Assembly polls in the region.

Political parties including BJP, Jammu and Kashmir Panthers party and other socio-political organisations based in Jammu have been raising their voices in support of delimitation for a long time to end the hegemony of politically empowered Kashmir based politicians.

Now it remains to be seen whether the current exercise will genuinely bore fruitful results or will turn out to be yet another futile exercise.

In the dissolved Assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir region had 46 Assembly seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh 4, a gap of nine seats between Kashmir and Jammu divisions.

With BJP at the helm of affairs at the centre, common people across Jammu region are anxiously waiting to see the wrongs of history getting corrected.

In the past every time, Jammu demanded its due share in the power matrix of the state, the powers be at the helm of affairs, manipulated reports and recommendations of Delimitation commissions, and brazenly tilted the balance of power in support of politicians of Kashmir valley.

To begin with, when Sheikh Mohd Abdullah of National Conference took reins of power in his hands in 1951 he ensured at least 43 Assembly seats were allotted to Kashmir, 30 to Jammu and only two to Ladakh region.

No justification was given on what grounds Kashmir was allotted 43 seats which had a land area of 15,953 sq. km. (15.73%) and less than half of the state’s population –, 30 to Jammu with an area of 26,293 sq. km. (25.93%) and the population more than Kashmir and only 2 to the trans-Himalayan Ladakh with a land area of 59,146 sq. km. (58.3%) in a House of 100.

The injustice prevailed and people of Jammu and Ladakh regions suffered at the hands of successive state and central governments as no one paid heed to statistical data and always surrendered before the Kashmiri politicians for their own vested interests.

With 46 seats in its kitty, Kashmiri politicians ruled J&K since 1951

In the dissolved Assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir region had 46 Assembly seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh 4, a gap of nine seats between Kashmir and Jammu divisions. Not even once, the state was ruled by a politician from either Jammu or Ladakh region. Every dispensation propelled political dreams of Kashmir based dynasts and allowed them to crush the aspirations of people belonging to the Jammu region.

After the abrogation of Article 370 and reorganisation of the state into two Union Territories, four Assembly seats of Ladakh region were reduced from J&K legislative assembly, leaving 83 Assembly seats for the UT.

In the dissolved Assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir region had 46 Assembly seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh 4, a gap of nine seats between Kashmir and Jammu divisions.

In Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act which was passed by the Parliament on August 6, 2019, J&K UT was granted 90-seats Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council was dissolved.

By adding, twenty-four seats, which remained reserved for Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the J&K Assembly, the total strength of the J&K Assembly will go up to 114 as against previous 107.

However, the strength of Lok Sabha seats of J&K has come down from six to five – three in Kashmir division and two in Jammu while Ladakh Union Territory has been granted one Lok Sabha seat. All four Rajya Sabha seats in the erstwhile State of J&K will be retained by the Union Territory.

The National Conference Government headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah had in 2002 frozen fresh delimitation of Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir till 2026 on the lines of Parliament.

Setting up of Delimitation Commission

In the coming days, the Union government is expected to finalise the name of the chairman of the commission. A sitting Supreme Court Judge or a retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is expected to head the three-member commission.

On its part, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora, on Monday nominated Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioner as its representative to the Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir.

The third member of the Commission will be nominated by the Union Territory Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to official sources, “The Commission will be formally constituted once the names of sitting/retired Supreme Court Judge and representative of the J&K Government are received by the MHA“.

Terms of reference and tenure of the Commission will be decided by the Union Home Ministry once it is formally constituted with names of all three members.

Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.