Politics over proposal of Delimitation Commission: Gupkar Alliance dubs panel's suggestion as 'Divisive'

A day after the Delimitation Commission proposed allocation of six seats to Jammu and one to the Kashmir Valley out of a total of seven seats increased for the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory, the Peoples' Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) outrightly rejected the recommendations of the panel.

The PAGD termed recommendations of the panel as "divisive" and vowed to oppose it tooth and nail.

"We will hold a peaceful protest demonstration in Srinagar on January 1, 2022, against the proposal of delimitation commission", spokesperson of PAGD M Y Tarigami during a press conference after meeting of Gupkar Alliance.

"We want peace and do not want any confrontation with any institution or government. However, we will raise our voice for the defence of legitimate rights of the people in a peaceful manner and have decided to hold a peaceful demonstration in Srinagar on January 1 against the proposal put forward by the Delimitation Commission as in our view the draft is unacceptable to the people and all communities," M Y Tarigami said.

We have already challenged decisions of the Union Government in Supreme Court: Tarigami

The PAGD spokesperson said that many political parties and individuals have already challenged what he called, "illegal and unilateral", decisions of the Union Government to abrogate articles 370 and 35-A and bifurcations of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories (UTs) in the Supreme Court.

"Instead of setting up Delimitation Commission on the basis of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, the Union Government should wait for out of Supreme Court's decision", he said.

The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Prakash Desai was constituted by the Centre on March 6, 2020, to redraw Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of the Union Territory in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which bifurcated the erstwhile state into union territories of J&K and Ladakh.

To involve the people of Jammu to oppose recommendations of the Delimitation Commission, Tarigami informed that the PAGD has decided to use every opportunity and every forum and will reach the people of the country, leaders of political parties.

"We will reach out to all political parties including those who do not agree with them, and make them understand the pain we are going through by trampling of our rights which have very serious implications for the country," he said.

Panel proposes six more seats for Jammu, one for Kashmir

Reports said that during a meeting with the associate members on Monday, the Commission informed that out of seven seats increased in the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir (from 83 to 90), six have been proposed for the Jammu region and one for the Kashmir division.
As per the Delimitation Commission's proposal, Kashmir will now have 47 Assembly seats and Jammu 43.

In 1995 delimitation, Jammu's seats had gone up from 32 to 37, Kashmir's from 43 to 46 and that of Ladakh from two to four while a total of J&K had increased from 76 to 87.

In a first, nine seats to be reserved for STs in J&K

The panel also informed that it proposed to reserve nine seats in the Legislative Assembly for Scheduled Tribes and seven for Scheduled Castes.

While SCs are already getting political reservations, the STs will get nine reserved seats (10 percent) for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir.

Unlike other parts of the country, there was no political reservation to the STs in the legislative assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Political reservation to STs would be granted after the abrogation of Article 370.

PAGD leaders meet at Jammu to devise a strategy

Today was the second meeting of PAGD in Jammu since the amalgam was formed in 2019. The last was held here in November 2020.

The over four long meeting was chaired by National Conference president and PAGD chairperson Dr. Farooq Abdullah. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Awami National Conference leader Muzaffar Ahmad Shah also attended the meeting at Abdullah's Bhatindi residence. Tarigami said the meeting has decided to reach out to the people of the country to highlight "our pain".

The PAGD was formed in October 2019 by six political parties with the pledge of perseverance and steadfastness towards the restoration of Article 370. This resolution was written in the Alliance's declaration where the political parties stated there would be "nothing about us without us," meaning they will stick together come what may.

Within a couple of months after its formation, PAGD had received a severe jolt when Sajad Lone of Peoples' Conference, left the alliance. Lone charged both NC and PDP with fielding proxy candidates against the officially mandated candidates of the alliance as during the DDC elections.