Why Is J&K's Proposed Delimitation Seen as Inequitable to Kashmiris?

 The proposal will increase the number of assembly seats in Jammu from 37 to 43, and in Kashmir from 46 to 47.

 

Srinagar: In a contentious move, the Narendra Modi government's delimitation committee suggested six new assembly seats for the Jammu region and only one additional seat for Kashmir, drawing widespread condemnation from major political factions in the union territory.

 

Many see the recommendation as a "attack on Kashmir's political importance and supremacy" in J&K politics, as well as "part of the BJP-led government's sequence of actions to disempower Kashmiris" that began on August 5, 2019. The idea has raised eyebrows because, according to the most recent census, the population of Kashmir Valley is 15 lakh higher than that of Jammu.

 

The BJP has been pushing for delimitation in J&K since 1995, when the last such exercise took place in the former state.

 

Proposal draught

 

The commission, which was established by the Union government on March 6, 2020 to redraw the electoral map of J&K, told its associate members – three National Conference MPs and two BJP MPs – that it has proposed six additional seats for Jammu and one for Kashmir in a meeting held in New Delhi on Monday (December 20).

 

"The commission has proposed six seats for Jammu and only one for Kashmir," said Hasnain Masoodi, an associate member of the panel and NC MP from Anantnag.

 

He stated that the commission has given them (MPs) till December 31 to respond to the proposal. "This plan is unacceptable to us," he added, adding that "Kashmir deserves more seats than Jammu in terms of population."

 

The proposal will increase the number of assembly seats in Jammu from 37 to 43, and in Kashmir from 46 to 47.

 

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According to The Wire, the panel has proposed increasing one seat in each of the Jammu region's Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar, and Rajouri districts, as well as Kupwara in the Kashmir Valley.

 

The Hindu-majority constituencies of Kathua, Samba, and Udhampur will be elected. Kathua has an 87.61 percent Hindu population, whereas Samba and Udhampur have 86.33 percent and 88.12 percent Hindu populations, respectively, according to census data. The districts of Kishtwar, Doda, and Rajouri also have significant Hindu populations (between 34 percent and 45 percent ).

 

The BJP has long advocated for delimitation in J&K, and the party has frequently invoked the bogey of Jammu area underrepresentation. In the 2014 assembly elections, the party won 25 seats in the area and, for the first time in history, became a member of the government.

 

The right-wing party's allegations that the Jammu region is underrepresented in the J&K assembly do not hold up to scrutiny. In the previous delimitation exercise, the region had also gotten a better deal than Kashmir.

 

In 1995, Kashmir was given 46 seats and Jammu was given 37. This means that Kashmir, which has 56.15 percent of the population of J&K, had 55.42 percent representation in the assembly, while Jammu, which has 43.84 percent of the region's population, had 44.57 percent.

Aside from that, the number of seats in the Jammu area has increased by more than double that of Kashmir since 1957. While the number of seats in Kashmir increased by three, the number of seats in Jammu increased by seven. The Kashmir Valley received 43 seats in the first assembly election, 30 seats in Jammu, and two seats in Ladakh, which is no longer part of J&K following the reorganisation of the erstwhile state.

 People in the Kashmir Valley believe the delimitation proposal is part of the BJP's "dream project" of establishing a Hindu chief minister in the Muslim-majority state of J&K.

 

 

Since 1947, the elected government in J&K has always been led by a Muslim. Except for Ghulam Nabi Azad, all of J&K's chief ministers have been Kashmir Valley locals.

  

Widespread disapproval

 The latest idea has sparked considerable criticism in Kashmir, with political leaders claiming that the commission's recommendation smacks of a politicised approach.

  "The J&K delimitation commission's draught recommendation is unacceptable. Former chief minister and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah tweeted, "The distribution of newly constituted assembly constituencies with six going to Jammu and only one going to Kashmir is not justified by the data of the 2011 census."

 

"The true game plan is to build a government in J&K that will legitimise the unlawful and unconstitutional choices of August 2019," former chief minister and People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti stated.

 

 

"I was right to be concerned about the Delimitation Commission. They seek to pit people against one other by disregarding the population census and proposing six seats for one region and only one for Kashmir," she explained.

 

The plan "reeks of bias," according to People's Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone, and is a "shock to people who believe in democracy in Kashmir." "The delimitation commission's suggestions are completely unacceptable. They reeks of prejudice. "What a rude awakening for people who believe in democracy," Lone wrote on Twitter.

 

The panel stated that it has classified all 20 districts into three broad groups, with a margin of +/- 10% of average population each assembly constituency, and that it has proposed constituency allocation to the districts.

 

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"The Commission has also proposed carving out an additional constituency for some districts to balance representation for geographical areas with insufficient communication and public amenities due to their hostile conditions on the international border," it stated.

 

 

For the first time in Jammu and Kashmir, nine seats out of 90 are planned to be awarded to Scheduled Tribes based on population, according to the commission. "Seven seats for Scheduled Castes are suggested," it stated.

 

 

In terms of population size, what Kashmir demands

 While the commission has suggested 43 seats for Jammu and 47 seats for Kashmir in the 90-member parliament, a simple calculation based on population data from the 2011 census suggests that Kashmir should receive 51 seats, up from 46, and Jammu should receive 39 seats, up from 37.

 

The commission has proposed carving off one seat per 1,25,082 people in Jammu and one seat per 1,46,563 people in Kashmir, according to J&K's former law secretary Muhammad Ashraf Mir. "In Jammu Division, a single seat has been created for 1,25,082 people. The identical constituency has been established for 1,46,563 individuals in Kashmir Division. "In effect, the valley's 10,09,621 inhabitants have been disenfranchised," Mir tweeted.

Gowhar Geelani, a senior journalist and political analyst, described the idea as a "attack on Kashmir's political centrality."

"The delimitation commission's suggestions show that it behaved as a partisan, not an independent organisation," he told The Wire.

 

Lateef-ul-Zaman Deva, a former official, claimed the delimitation was done in violation of the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 and the Delimitation Act-2002. "The plan is profoundly unacceptable," he stated, "because it has been implemented to disproportionately empower one population while disempowering the other."

 

The selection of districts for new seats, according to Deva, is a "pointer to egregious breach of law and trust on the part of individuals who participated in the delimitation committee operations."

 

The reorganisation of J&K resulted in delimitation.

 Until 2031, no delimitation exercise was conceivable in J&K. This was before the BJP-led Union government overturned the statute controlling delimitation in the former state in August 2019, along with other constitutional and legal amendments.

 

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, was thus amended to include provisions for delimitation. The J&K parliament will have 90 seats under the law, omitting the 24 seats reserved for districts within Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.