The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the petition challenging the delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir.

According to details available with the news agency KNO, a division bench of the Apex Court dismissed the petition challenging the notifications for delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary segments in J&K.

On March 6, 2020, the Centre constituted a three-panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ranjana Desai. Its two other members were Chief Election Commissioner and J&K’s State Election Commissioner.

It was entrusted with the work of delimiting the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of the 2011 Census and in accordance with the provisions of Part-V of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (34 of 2019) and the provisions of Delimitation Act, 2002 (33 of 2002).

The Commission unveiled its final order on May 5, 2022, and allocated six additional seats to Jammu and one to Kashmir. It also reserved nine seats for scheduled tribes - six in Jammu region and three in Kashmir.

SRINAGAR — The Supreme Court will deliver its judgment tomorrow on a plea challenging delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory.

According to the news agency KNO, the Apex Court will pronounce its judgment on Monday (February 13) on the petition filed by two Srinagar residents - Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Muhammad Ayub Matto.

On March 6, 2020, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) issued a notification in the exercise of power under Section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, constituting a Delimitation Commission, with former Supreme Court judge (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai as the chairperson.

The exercise was completed on May 5, 2022, when the delimitation panel unveiled its final order.

The petitioners have contended that the Article 170 of the Constitution of India indicates that the next delimitation exercise is to be carried out only after 2026, enforcing the delimitation process in UT of J&K is not only arbitrary but also violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.

They have submitted that the Delimitation Commission does not have the power to carry out the exercise as under Section 9(1) (b) of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and Section 11(1) (b) of the Delimitation Act 2022, the power vested on the Election Commission is to update the Delimitation order by making the necessary changes on account of subsequent events and the said power cannot change boundaries or areas or extent of any constituency by way of any notification.

JAMMU — Former chief minister and senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday said that the delimitation commission's final report is "tailor-made", aimed at benefitting some leaders.

Talking to media persons in Jammu, Azad, as per the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), while reacting to the demands of Kashmiri Pandits, said that the security-related concerns of all the vulnerable people, be it KPs, Muslims or Sikhs, must be addressed.

About the delimitation report, he said it seems tailor-made, aimed at benefitting particular leaders and defeating other leaders.

He further said that everybody has to play their role in eradicating militancy, adding that the government should not consider the footfall of tourists as the only parameter of normalcy.

“The credit for massive tourist footfall everywhere across the country goes to Almighty as the temperature remained pleasant, which lead to the good tourist season across the country,” he said.

JAMMU — Lambasting the government claims over normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, the former chief minister and Vice President of the National Conference, Omar Abdullah on Friday said that flight operations and tourism cannot be considered signs of normalcy.

He also said that if the situation is peaceful, the government should conduct polls at the earliest or else should accept that the situation is deteriorating than in 1996.

Interacting with media persons on the sidelines of a workers' meeting and NC's medical center inauguration in Jammu, Omar said that earlier the government claimed that Articles 35-A and 370 is the sole reason for militancy and separatism in Kashmir and both will end after repealing of Article 35-A and 370.

“However, the reality is in front of us and situation in Kashmir is not conducive by anyhow and rather is deteriorating,” Omar said as per news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), adding that the target killings are on the rise and areas like Uptown in Srinagar and north Kashmir are also getting troublesome in terms of militancy.

In reply to a question regarding the Delimitation exercise, Omar said that population is an important criterion for delimitation and in that context, an increase of six seats in Jammu and one in Kashmir cannot be justified.

He, however, added that the main problem is with the nature of delimitation for existing constituencies and the way new boundaries have been drawn as it all has been done to benefit a particular party in Jammu and its partners in Kashmir.

"The report has been prepared on the basis of politics and not keeping in mind the ground realities,” Omar further said.

Over resolution on loudspeaker ban in Jammu, he said that this issue is related to citizens of every religion and concerned administration should find a midway rather than making a decision, which affects religious sentiments of every citizen as loudspeakers are installed at every religious place.

Pitching for early Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said that if the government is not going to hold elections at this point in time then it should accept that situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not conducive and is worse than in 1996.

He further stated that the number of flights and tourist footfall is not a sign of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir and the present situation is at a level where government officials inside offices and police personnel in their houses are falling prey to bullets.

SRINAGAR — The two-year-long delimitation process for Jammu & Kashmir concluded on Thursday with a three-member panel tasked for the exercise unveiling the final electoral map of the Union Territory.

Headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai, the Commission came up with the final delimitation order after holding its meeting. The order came into effect today with its publication in the Gazette of India.

As per the new electoral map, a copy of which is available with the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), out of the 90 Assembly constituencies of J&K, 43 will be part of Jammu region and 47 for Kashmir.

As per the contours of the exercise, nine Assembly constituencies have been reserved for STs, out of which six are in Jammu region and three in the Valley. Besides, seven seats have also been reserved for SCs in J&K UT Assembly.

The Commission has also unveiled boundaries of five Parliamentary seats of Jammu and Kashmir, one of which has been carved out by combining Anantnag region in the Valley and Rajouri & Poonch of Jammu region.

The Commission said most of the representations regarding the change of names of the proposed constituencies were accepted by it in view of the public sentiment involved in the same.

“These name changes included naming Tangmarg-AC as Gulmarg-AC, Zoonimar-AC as Zaidibal-AC, Sonwar-AC as Lal Chowk-AC, Padder-AC as Padder-Nagseni-AC, Kathua North-AC as Jasrota-AC, Kathua South-AC as Kathua-AC, Khour-AC as Chhamb-AC, Mahore-AC as Gulabhgarh-AC, Darhal-AC as Budhal-AC, etc,” the panel said.

It said that some of the representations pertaining to shifting of tehsils from one Assembly constituency to another were found logical and were accepted, viz; shifting of tehsil Shrigufwara from Pahalagam-AC to Bijbehara-AC, shifting of Kwarhama and Kunzar tehsils to Gulmarg-AC and redrawing Wagoora-Kreeri-AC having Kreeri and Khoie tehsils and part of Wagoora and Tangmarg tehsils, shifting of Darhal Tehsil from Budhal-AC to Thannamandi-AC.

“Additionally, there were some requests for minor changes in the territorial jurisdiction of proposed ACs, which were thoroughly analysed by the Commission and a few of them, which were logical, have been incorporated in the final order,” the panel said.

Delimitation panel recommends Centre to make provision for nomination of two members from Kashmiri migrants in Legislative Assembly

The delimitation commission has recommended to the Central government to make provision for the nomination of at least two members from the community of Kashmiri migrants in the Legislative Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory.

As per the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), in its report, the panel has recommended to the Government of India make legal provisions for the nomination of at least two members (one of them must be a female) from the community of Kashmiri migrants in the Legislative Assembly.

As per its recommendation submitted to the Central government, the Commission has said these members may be given power at par with the power of nominated members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Puducherry.

In the Legislative Assembly of Puducherry, the Central government has powers to nominate three MLAs and their powers are similar to elected legislators.

In its report, the panel has also recommended to the Central government that it may consider giving the displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir some representation in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, by way of the nomination of representatives of the displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the panel, during the public hearings, it received a number of representations from the Kashmiri migrants and the displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

“The delegations of Kashmiri migrants represented before the Commission that they were persecuted and forced to live in exile as refugees in their own country for the last three decades. It was urged that in order to preserve their political rights, seats may be reserved for them in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and Parliament,” reads the statement issued by the panel after unveiling its final report.

The Commission also said the displaced persons from PaJK also requested it to reserve a few seats for them in the J&K Legislative Assembly.

Political parties express resentment over Delimitation Commission’s final report

The mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir here have expressed resentment against the final report tabled by the delimitation panel about the delimitation of constituencies here in the Union Territory.

National Conference (NC) in a tweet said that they are studying the implications of these recommendations for individual Assembly constituencies.

“We have seen the final recommendations of the Delimitation Commission. We are studying the implications of these recommendations for individual assembly constituencies. No amount of gerrymandering will change the ground reality which is that whenever elections are held the voter will punish the BJP & its proxies for what they have done to J&K over the last 4 years,” JKNC tweeted.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a statement said that the party from day one has looked at the delimitation exercise as an extension of the process started on August 5, 2019 to disempower people from a particular community and a region.

“The final draft has proved our fears right again. The GoI has used or misused independent institutions to turn the electoral majority into a minority by using geography and access as a ruse. It will be for the first time in the electoral history of the country that elections are being rigged long before the first vote is cast. It's another sad chapter of history written by the rulers sitting in New Delhi,” PDP spokesman said.

In a statement issued to the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Peoples Conference (PC) said that the delimitation report is a repeat of the past. “Same traditional entities are calling the shots behind the scenes. Kashmir has been discriminated against as in the past. No change. Only the degree of disempowerment is greater,” the statement said.

“Over the last six decades, Kashmir’s share of Assembly seats in the J&K Assembly increased from 43 to 47 while Jammu’s share rose from 30 to 43. Who is responsible for the systematic disempowerment of Kashmiris since 1947? Those who aided and abetted in the journey from Jammu’s 30 to 37 are the ones who aided and abetted from 37 to 43,” the statement said.

The statement further said that the PC had hoped that Kashmiri parties stayed away and not diluted the stigma associated with a people-less process, which was essentially a tool for the disempowerment of Kashmiris.

CPI (M) in a statement said that the Delimitation Commission has submitted its final report despite Constitutional freeze on the increase or decrease of Parliamentary or Assembly seats.

“Though the Delimitation Commission was constituted under the Delimitation Act of 2002 but has re-drawn the constituencies of UT of JK in accordance with the provisions of J&K Re-organisation Act 2019 which has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The said Re-organisation Act modified the law of enfranchisement of J&K. Voting rights for the State Assembly which were restricted to only permanent residents have been extended to non-state subjects also. The exercise is bound to disempower the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the long run,” CPI (M) said.

SRINAGAR — The Delimitation Commission of Jammu and Kashmir met with approximately 400 delegations from different parts of UT of J&K during its two-day public sittings at Convention Centre, Jammu and SKICC, Srinagar.

In response to the draft delimitation proposal published in the Gazette of India (extraordinary) and in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Gazette on March 14, 2022, around 400 suggestions/representations with 4000 signatories were received by the Commission till March 21, 2022.

The Commission decided to provide a personal hearing to all these delegations, both in Jammu as well as Srinagar so that the public can directly interact with the members of the Commission and present their suggestions before them.

During the public sittings, the main points of all the representations were read out and the concerned delegations were given the opportunity to highlight any additional points for the consideration of the Commission. The general public, public representatives, social workers and members of political parties utilised this opportunity and highlighted their demands/suggestions/grievances before the Commission which were duly noted by the Commission.

The Commission informed the participants that the Delimitation exercise of Jammu and Kashmir has been carried out by the Commission in a record time of two years despite the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

It further noted that the entire exercise has been carried out as per the provisions of the Delimitation Act 2002 and the J&K Reorganization Act 2019, keeping in view the population, public conveniences, communication facilities, geographical compactness of the areas as well as the existing administrative boundaries while delimiting the constituencies.

It was also mentioned that the Commission is mandated under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019 to increase the Assembly constituencies from existing 83 to 90. The Commission for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir has proposed to reserve nine seats for the Scheduled Tribes and in addition to it, seven seats have been proposed to be reserved for Scheduled Castes.

The members of the public largely appreciated the efforts of the Delimitation Commission and expressed their satisfaction with the entire exercise and termed it a fully democratic and transparent process that will benefit the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Delimitation Commission assured the delegations who called on the Commission in Jammu as well as Srinagar that the Commission shall consider their genuine suggestions/grievances sympathetically in accordance with the Delimitation Act.

The Commission is headed by its Chairperson, Justice (Retd.) Smt. Ranjana Prakash Desai with Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner, Shri K.K Sharma as its members. The five members of Lok Sabha from J&K are its associate members.

SRINAGAR — The Delimitation Commission headed by the retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai today morning arrived on their scheduled visit to hear public delegations in Srinagar.

The Delimitation Commission is scheduled to meet public delegations, and civil society members today at SKICC in Srinagar.

On arrival in Srinagar, members of the Delimitation Commission who were accompanied by Chief Electoral Officer J&K, Hirdesh Kumar, were received by Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Mohamad Aijaz Asad.

Sources said that in the first phase of public delegation meetings today, six districts will be heard which will include districts Srinagar, Budgam, Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian. "While in the second session, districts which will be heard are Ganderbal, Bandipora, Kupwara and Baramulla," sources said.

NEW DELHI — A petition has been moved in the Supreme Court challenging the increase of the number of seats in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir from 107 to 114. The plea was filed by two residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

The petitioner sought to declare that the increase in the number of seats in Jammu and Kashmir, as provided in the J-K Reorganisation Act, 2019, is ultra vires the constitutional provisions such as Articles 81, 82, 170, 330 and 332 and statutory provisions particularly Section 63 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

The petition also sought to declare that the notification dated March 6, 2020, constituting the Delimitation Commission to take up delimitation in the UT of J-K and states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland by government and consequential omission of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland from the process of delimitation vide notification dated March 3, 2021, and conducting delimitation only for Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is unconstitutional as it amounts to classification and violates Article 14.

The petitioner said that the last Delimitation Commission was set up on July 12, 2002, in the exercise of powers conferred by Section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, after the 2001 Census to carry out the exercise throughout the country, Delimitation Commission had issued Guidelines and Methodology for the Delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies vide Letter dated July 5, 2004, along with the constitutional and legal provisions.

The petitioner said that it is clearly stated that the total number of existing seats in the Legislative Assemblies of all states, including UTs of the National Capital Region and Pondicherry, as fixed based on the 1971 census shall remain unaltered till the first census be taken after the year 2026.

“If August 5, 2019, was to unite Jammu and Kashmir State with the rest of India, then delimitation process defeats “new order” of 'One Nation One Constitution' in the country. While Article 170 of the Constitution of India provides that the next delimitation in the country will be taken up after 2026, why has the UT of Jammu and Kashmir been singled out?” the petition asked.

According to the petition, the union government, Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Dept) issued a notification on March 6, 2020, in the exercise of power under Section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, constituting a Delimitation Commission, with Justice (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai as Chairperson, for the purpose of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the state of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, for a period of one year.

RAMBAN — Former Chief Minister and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is badly damaging the integrity of the Delimitation Commission, which otherwise is an institution of repute.

While talking to media persons on the sidelines of a party convention in Ramban district, she said that Delimitation Commission is an institution of repute and respect but BJP has badly damaged its image, that too for personal political gains.

Mehbooba Mufti, however, refused to comment about Assembly elections.

Mufti said that PDP has increased its youth connect programmes as the youth in Jammu and Kashmir are the worst sufferers due to unemployment and other factors.

Replying to a question over The Kashmir Files movie, she said that it would have been better if BJP would have paid some concern towards the upliftment and betterment of Kashmiri Pandits. "BJP should have done things for the betterment of KPs rather than promoting this movie,” she added.

The former chief minister accused the BJP of spreading hatred in the society and dividing people in the name of religion.