The Delimitation Commission is providing to impact widespread adjustments to the electoral limitations of Jammu and Kashmir via way of means of growing a trans-Pir Panjal Lok Sabha constituency whilst redrawing the prevailing meeting constituencies.
The panel`s 2d draft document has drawn sharp reactions from the local mainstream parties, which termed the fee as a “frontal organization of the BJP” whose “sole objective” turned into to “disempower” the humans of Kashmir. The first draft turned into submitted in December 2021.
“The draft doesn`t make any sense. It offers the affect of a political exercise. It doesn`t take observe of the legitimate factors raised in reaction to the preliminary draft. In the existing circumstances, our celebration summarily rejects it,” Hasnain Masoodi, Lok Sabha MP from Anantnag and an accomplice member of the panel.
After Article 370 turned into diluted and Ladakh have become a separate Union Territory (UT), Jammu and Kashmir`s Lok Sabha seats have been decreased from six to five – in Jammu and 3 in Kashmir.
The Jammu Lok Sabha constituency proposed via way of means of the delimitation panel will include 18 meeting segments unfold over 4 districts of Jammu, Samba, Reasi and Rajouri with a complete populace of 22.eighty three lakhs. The proposed Udhampur Lok Sabha seat may also include 18 meeting segments with a complete populace of 20.ninety five lakhs.
The panel has encouraged carving out six new meeting seats withinside the Jammu location with one seat every in Doda, Kathua, Udhampur, Rajouri, Samba and Kishtwar districts, with a purpose to take the overall variety of seats in Jammu divisions to 43. While a brand new meeting seat named Shri Mata Vaishno Devi has been created in Reasi district, Jammu location`s Udhampur and Kathua Main meeting segments had been cut up into 4 seats whilst Kalakote, Suchetgarh and Raipur Domana meeting segments had been eliminated withinside the new electoral cartography. The Inderwal meeting constituency has been renamed Mughal Maidaan.
In the Kashmir location, the 3 proposed Lok Sabha seats of Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla may also include 18 meeting segments – every with respective populations of 26.20 lakh, 26.sixty six lakh and 25.86 lakh, in step with the draft document shared with the accomplice members. The populace ratio is appreciably better in Kashmir than withinside the Jammu location.
In a widespread move, the panel has proposed to merge seven meeting segments, along with the whole Poonch and a few regions of Rajouri district, which have been in advance a part of the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency, with the brand new Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency of Kashmir.
If the new election mapping is approved, Jammu and Udanpur Roksabha members will be reduced by 6.01% and 14.46%, respectively, while adding 6.81%, 9.13% and 5.42% to the existing population, respectively. Will be done. Seats in Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla.
According to the Boundary Element Method of 2002, other indicators such as population size, public convenience, administrative boundaries, and geography must be taken into account when redefining membership. "All members are geographically compact areas wherever possible, and their boundaries shall take into account physical characteristics, boundaries of existing administrative units, telecommunications facilities, and public facilities." The law states.
Interestingly, the average population of the new congregation segment depicted by the Kashmir panel is 1.46 Rakı, compared to only 1.25 Rakı in Jammu. The new members of Anantnag Lok Sabha also go against the logic of boundaries, as their member segments are on either side of the powerful Pir Panjal Mountains that separate Kashmir from the Pir Panjal and Chenab areas of Jammu. Anonymity officials said, "Both divisions of Jammu and Kashmir each won 2.5 seats and were done to achieve equality for Roku Sabah." The panel also proposed to redraw the existing boundaries of the Kashmir district's Baramulla, Kupwara, Srinagar, Kulgam and Anantnag districts. Existing parliamentary members such as Haba Kadar in Srinagar, Hom Sharib and Kokernag in South Kashmir, and Sangrama and Gulmarg in North Kashmir will no longer exist once the draft is approved.
The panel proposed new meetinghouses such as Chanapora in Srinagar, Kunzer and
Tangmarg in Northern Kashmir. Only one new seat has been proposed to spin off the Kashmir
Division in the Kupwara district of northern Kashmir, bringing the number of Congregational
Churches in Kashmir to 47. Seven seats are reserved for the proposed caste, including Marh, Bishnah, RS Pura, Akhnoor, Ramgarh, Kathua South and Ramnagar (Udhampur). The RS Pura seat is the only seat already reserved for SC candidates.
All six other seats currently reserved for SC (Chhamb, Domana, Samba, Hiranagar, Chenani) have been omitted. The draft also proposed to reserve nine seats for the proposed tribeJammu division Dahor, Tannamandi, Slancot, Mölndal, Punchhaberi, Mahoa, Kashmir division Larnoo, Gres, Kangan.
The depiction panel shared a second draft with five associate members on February 4. They are currently required to submit comments by February 14th, after which the draft will be published. Comments submitted in response to the first draft report by three associate members of the Kashmir panel, including the President of the National Conference (NC) and Lok Sabha MP of Srinagar Farooq Abdullah, were ignored in the second draft, the MP said.
Stated. NC, Masudi. Associate member recommendations may choose to mention them in the final draft, but are not binding on the depiction panel. Once the associate members submitted their responses, the panel, which was set up on March 6, 2020 and updated for one year on March 6, 2021, convened another meeting with the associate members, followed by a new election map. United Government and Jammu and Kashmir Government.
Then there will be another round of meetings with the public in both regions of the UT, who will be asked to give their feedback about the new electoral arrangement which will be followed by the final meeting of the panel with the associate members — Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore of the BJP and Farooq, Hasnain and Akbar Lone of the NC. Subsequently, the final report will be prepared and President Ram Nath Kovind will issue a notice for operationalising the new electoral cartography.
Criticism from regional parties
Meanwhile, the draft report elicited a keen reaction from the mainstream Kashmiri parties. Farooq said: "There is no political, administrative or social logic to justify these recommendations."
"The movement is said to create congregational seats adjacent to the district, but the draft report describes a completely different situation. The Anantnag Lok Sabha seat in South Kashmir is part of the Jammu division. There are six seats in the Pir Panjal chain, Rajouri and Poonch. How does this improve governance, according to PTI's report? "He said. The People's Democratic Party said the organization "proved to be at the forefront of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party."
An official spokesman for the party said, "From media reports on the Commission's preliminary recommendations, the organization's sole purpose is to ensure backdoor access to the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly by the BJP and its shadowy organizations. It was obvious. " The BJP ally Altaf Bukhariled J & K Apni Party said the portrayal panel's proposal was unfair and unscientific. "The JK Apuni Party again rejects the draft working paper," he said in a statement. The parliamentary party also rejected the panel's recommendations. "People's norms, standards, reality and aspirations seem to have been ignored.
This certainly does not meet people's needs, desires and aspirations, "said Ravinder Sharma, a key speaker in the J & K Congress. However, BJP leader and federal minister of the Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh, is one of the five associate members of the panel and said, "Responsible leaders must not interfere with the activities of the Constitutional Authority." rice field. "As long as we are involved with the BJP, we trust the legitimacy and completeness of the Depiction Commission established by the Constitutional Election Commission of India. They are highly established. It follows the specific norms and parameters that have been set, and cannot deviate, "he said.
This article is written by Shreyansh Prakash of Symbiosis Law School, Pune.