Delimitation Commission compiles data without interacting with people of Jammu and Kashmir

The Delimitation Commission set up by the Central government to redraw parliamentary and assembly constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir has completed data collection process even as it has yet to visit the Union Territory to interact with people.

Officials said the Commission has completed data collection and it is preparing a framework to carve out assembly constituencies on the basis of the 2011 census.

The government had on March 6 constituted the Commission, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, to redraw Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.

BJP General Secretary (Organisation) Ashok Koul said the Commission will increase the assembly seats. “After completing its report, it will visit J&K to seek views of political parties and people,” he said and added by the end of December, the Commission may complete its exercise and submit the report.

However, the opposition parties in J&K have questioned the credibility of the data collection.

“Nothing is known about the Delimitation Commission on the ground. The Commission may be doing some paperwork on its own, but it is not in the public domain,” J&K Congress chief spokesperson, Ravinder Sharma, said.

He said that any such exercise should be conducted by taking into confidence the mainstream political parties of J&K.

Senior leader of the regional National Conference, Ali Mohammed Sagar said the party has disassociated itself from the delimitation process. “However, we want that delimitation should be conducted with the participation of representatives of the people and people themselves,” he demanded.

The erstwhile state of J&K had 87 seats in the assembly and six in Parliament, which got reduced to 83 and five, respectively, after it was bifurcated to make Ladakh a separate UT. So effectively, the seats will go up from 83 to 90 for J&K.

People and politicians in Kashmir view the exercise as a move to tilt the balance of power towards Jammu, by increasing the assembly seats in Jammu. However, in Jammu it is being regarded as a move correcting Kashmir’s historical ‘dominance’ over Jammu.