JAMMU: The Delimitation Commission has, for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir, applied all the parameters mandated by law in a judicious manner to carve out the constituencies which will provide populations living in diverse geographical areas of the Union Territory an equitable opportunity to exercise of their democratic rights.
Y.V. Sharma, BJP Spokesperson accompanied by Dr. Pardeep Mahotra Media Incharge stated this in a press conference held at Jammu today.
Sharma said that it was a clear break from all the past exercises, which were carried out in the aftermath of the bad precedent that was set just after Independence when, in a completely autocratic manner, only 30 seats were arbitrarily allocated to Jammu and 43 to Kashmir after throwing all norms to the winds.
Sharma emphasized that had this Delimitation Commission been constituted initially to start with in 1957, when the elections of the state were held for the first time, taking the J&K as a single unit and dividing the constituencies honestly, transparently and judiciously, he said that he is very sure that the terrorism would not have grown in the J&K state and the migration of the community would not have happened.
He asserted that the subsequent exercises carried out under the provisions of the Constitution of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Jammu and Kashmir Representation of People Act 1957, not only perpetuated the discrimination but also indulged in large scale gerrymandering thus further disempowering the people of Jammu and other sections.
The current Delimitation exercise which has been undertaken in terms of the Delimitation Act 2002 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 passed by the Parliament, sets right to a great extent, such aberrations and misdoings of the past.
Sharma pointed out that it is also for the first time that 9 constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes in Jammu and Kashmir, of which 3 are in Kashmir province. This has given a fair opportunity to a very vital section of the population, who were completely ignored and discriminated against for the past seven decades, to now exercise their democratic rights for adequate representation. This, he said, is a direct result of annulment of Article 370 and application of laws applicable to the entire country, to Jammu and Kashmir as well.