Explained | J&K Delimitation Commission's draft proposal: Why leaders in the Valley are against it

In a controversial move, the J&K Delimitation Commission has suggested only 6 new legislative seats for Jammu and only one for Kashmir.

Local parties criticised the move and said that it tilts in the favour of Jammu.

What is Delimitation?

Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of a constituency according to population change to reflect changes in the population of the region.

A delimitation commission is an independent body free from interference of any political party.

Also Read | Delimitation Commission proposes six seats for Jammu, one for Kashmir

The J&K Delimitation Commission is headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and includes the Chief Election Commissioner or Election Commissioner and state election commissioners. There are also five MPs from J&K who are associate members of the commission but their recommendations are not binding.

What the J&K Delimitation Commission has suggested

As per the mandate of the Commission, the sole reason to redraw boundaries is the population as per the 2011 Census.

Now, as per the Census, Kashmir has 15 lakh more population than Jammu - 68.6 lakh vs 53.5 lakh, reports NDTV.

Earlier, Jammu had 37 seats, Kashmir 46 seats and Ladakh 4 seats. As per the proposal Kashmir will have 47 seats and Jammu 43.

Earlier when the Union Territory had a special status, it’s delimitation of Lok Sabha seats was governed by the Constitution of India, and assembly seats by the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution and Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957.

Since the loss of the special status, both the Lok Sabha and assembly seats are to be demarcated under the Constitution of India.

Why is it controversial?

Basing this on the 2011 Census, the Kashmir Valley should get more seats than Jammu.

As per the new assembly constituencies, seats in Kashmir will have a population ratio of 1.46 lakh against 1.25 lakh in Jammu province.

Also Read | J&K parties deem Delimitation Commission’s draft proposal 'unacceptable'

According to J&K’s former law secretary Muhammad Ashraf Mir, the commission has proposed to carve out one seat per 1,25,082 people in the Jammu region and one seat per 1,46,563 people in the Kashmir region. “One constituency has been carved out for 1,25,082 people in Jammu Division. For Kashmir Division, the same constituency has been established for 1,46,563 people. In effect 10,09,621 people of the valley have been disenfranchised,” Mir tweeted.

What party leaders said about this

President of the National Conference Farooq Abdullah who attended the meeting said that his party will respond to the draft proposal formally on Dec 31, 2021.

Omar Abdullah called the proposal “absolutely unacceptable.”

“The draft recommendation of the J&K delimitation commission is unacceptable. The distribution of newly created assembly constituencies with 6 going to Jammu & only 1 to Kashmir is not justified by the data of the 2011 census,” he tweeted.

Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti slammed the proposal and stated that the commission “want to pitch people against each other by ignoring the population census & preposing 6 seats for one region & only one for Kashmir.” She also added that the Commission is serving the interests of the BJP.

"The recommendations of the delimitation commission are totally unacceptable. They reek of bias. What a shock for those who believe in democracy," Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference chief Sajad Lone tweeted.

Check out DH's latest videos: