Jammu, Feb 5 (PTI) The Congress and the National Panthers Party (NPP) reacted strongly on Saturday to the second draft proposal of the delimitation commission, proposing an overhaul of the Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir.
The delimitation commission has handed over the draft report to its five associate members — three parliamentarians from the National Conference (NC) and two from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — for their suggestions.
“The norms, criteria, ground realities and aspirations of people seem to have been ignored in the delimitation of the constituencies,” chief spokesperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress Ravinder Sharma said on media reports about the draft proposal.
He said people are surprised over the kind of “divisions and clubbing of certain areas, ignoring the ground realities and putting people to great hardships”.
“This is certainly not in accordance with the needs, wishes and aspirations of people,” Sharma said.
Surprisingly, he said most of the recommendations were already in circulation and in the public domain through the leaders of the BJP.
Sharma said the Congress would discuss the proposal once the formal draft is out and put forth the view of the people forcefully.
Seeking publication of the draft delimitation report in the official gazette along with the objections of the associate members, NPP chairman and former Jammu and Kashmir minister Harsh Dev Singh said it is a mandatory requirement.
Referring to section 9(2)(a) of the Delimitation Act, he said after the preparation of the draft report, the commission is required to publish its proposals for delimitation of constituencies together with the dissenting proposals or objections, if any, of the associate members in the official gazette.
“It is also required to specify a date on or before which the said proposals could be considered as laid down in section 9(2)(b). After the consideration of such objections, the final report is to be published in the gazette under section 10 of the Act.
“The same provisions have been incorporated in section 60 of the Jammu and Kashmir Re-organisation Act, which further provides that the final report of the commission shall not be called in question in any court of law,” Singh said.
The NPP leader said the submission of a delimitation report to the associate members in Parliament, without publishing it in the official gazette, was in violation of section 60 of the Jammu and Kashmir Re-organisation Act and section 9 of the Delimitation Act.
“The associate members having already conveyed their objections between December 20 and December 31, 2021 in terms of the earlier orders of the commission, it is legally inappropriate to once again seek suggestions from them without publishing the report along with their previous objections,” he said.
Calling for an early completion of the delimitation exercise in accordance with the stipulated norms and procedures, Singh appealed to the commission to ensure complete fairness and transparency in its functioning, without succumbing to the “diktats” of any political party.
He demanded a time-bound completion of the delimitation process and immediate conduct of the Assembly polls to ensure the installation of a legitimate, elected government in Jammu and Kashmir. PTI TAS RC
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