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Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission meets over 200 delegations, leaves for Srinagar
On a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Delimitation Commission headed by retired Supreme Court justice Ranjana Prakash Desaimet various delegations in Jammu before leaving for Srinagar
On a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the Delimitation Commission headed by retired Supreme Court justice Ranjana Prakash Desai on Monday met various delegations in Jammu before leaving for Srinagar to meet the stakeholders there before submitting its final draft.
The Delimitation Commission, comprising justice (retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai as chairperson, chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and deputy election commissioner Chander Bhushan Kumar were joined by state election commissioner (SEC) KK Sharma and chief electoral officer Hridesh Kumar at the convention centre where they met various delegations.
The panel has been tasked to redraw the boundaries of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir.
The commission on March 14 has put its report in the public domain and invited objections and suggestions from people. The commission has published its report in the gazettes of India as well as Jammu and Kashmir.
It met over 200 delegations and members of the civil society from Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar, Kathua and Doda districts and heard them and received their representations.
Panthers Party chairman and former education minister Harsh Dev Singh said, “We briefed the panel about the imbalance on parliamentary seats. Kashmir still has three Lok Sabha constituencies while Jammu has two, out of which Rajouri and Poonch areas have been amalgamated with the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, which has caused grave resentment among the people.”
“We pointed out that the Jammu region should also have three LS seats,” he added.
The former minister also informed that he apprised the panel about the irrational approach of making certain constituencies reserved.
However, Congress walked out of the venue and boycotted the meeting with the panel claiming that the party had not been invited and there was no mention of the Congress in the list of delegations, although leaders were invited in an individual capacity.
A team of senior Congress leaders comprising Ravinder Sharma, chief spokesperson, Yogesh Sawhney, former minister, and Ashok Dogra, ex-MLA, reached the venue at 12 noon as per invitation but boycotted the meeting, after some time when they found that invitation was only in an individual capacity and not to the Congress party.
Sharma claimed that meeting 300 delegations in a couple of hours was an eyewash and the commission did only cosmetic exercises, which is a grave injustice to the people.
He said that the Congress party has submitted detailed objections to the draft report and pointed out glaring illegalities and irregularities in the report, which is far away from the ground situation and required drastic review in the interests and convenience of the general public.
Panel did commendable job: Ravinder Raina
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jammu and Kashmir delegation met the panel to discuss the people’s issues with it especially asking the commission for the redressal of Ghagwal, Rajpura, Samba, Gurha Salathia, Maralia, Suchetgarh, Pargwal, Chamb, Mera-Mandrian, Chowki-Chowra, Sunderbani, Doongi and Poonch, who have sought alterations in the draft report vis-a-vis their areas.
The delegation was led by J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina who was also accompanied by former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta and former minister Sunil Sharma.
While the delegation commended the efforts of the commission in framing the drafts, it also urged the commission to settle down all the issues raised by the people.
