Withdraw draft proposals for demarcation of constituencies: NC to Delimitation Commission

Srinagar: The National Conference has asked the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission to withdraw the draft proposal for demarcation of assembly constituencies and also stop further proceedings of the Commission till the final adjudication of pleas challenging validity of revocation of Article 370 and reorganisation of the erstwhile state into two union territories.

The three Lok Sabha members, who are associate members of the Commission, in their written objections filed on Monday said, the draft proposal made in working paper 2-6 proposing demarcation of the assembly and parliamentary constituencies be withdrawn without acting upon the proposals in any manner or proceeding ahead in the matter.

The Commission must stop the exercise forthwith pending final adjudication and disposal of the batch of writ petition questioning Vires and constitutional validity of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, NC leaders Farooq Abdullah, Hasnain Masoodi and Mohammad Akbar Lone said.

Making public their response to the proposals, they said a bare look at the working papers would reveal that the population as the first and foremost criteria of delimiting the constituencies has not been given the prominence it deserves.

"The deviation in population ranges from 56,077 more than average of 1,36,304 in case of 41-Dooru to 85,025 less than average in case of 50-Padder. There are seven Assembly segments with less than 100,000 population (Paddar, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Bani Mughal Madaan, Basohli, Ramgarh and Kishtwar) in Jammu Province while number of such constituencies is only three (Gurez, Karnah and Kunzer)," they said. The NC leaders pointed out that there were 18 Assembly segments with population of more 1,50,000 in Kashmir province while number of such Assembly segments was seven in case of Jammu province.

"Twenty-four constituencies in Kashmir province have more than an average population of 1,36,304 while population of only eight constituencies in Jammu province exceeds the average population of a constituency worked out by the Commission. The population of Dooru almost equals population of three constituencies Paddar, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (SMVD) and Bani constituencies of Jammu," they added.

The leaders said as per the draft proposal, people of Dooru will have one member in Assembly while an almost equal population from Paddar, Bani and SMVD constituencies shall have three members in the Assembly. "The Working Papers 2-6 script a storey of disempowerment and disenfranchisement of Kashmir and far flung unattended areas of Jammu," they said.