Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir which is due since two years have again been in spotlight after the recent delimitation proposal.
Assembly polls in J&K, whenever they are announced, are going to be one of the major tests for the parties after the abrogation of article 370. The proposal of delimitation commission by adding 6 new assembly constituencies for Jammu division and one for the Kashmir valley has not brought any joy for Jammu either.
In Jammu many feel that though six seats have been added making it total to 43 seats, there is only difference of four with that of Kashmir the draft proposal is still titled towards Kashmir despite Jammu having a larger area (26,293 sq km vs 15,948 sq km in Kashmir) and, as is commonly believed here, near-equal population as Kashmir as per The Indian Express.
Ankur Sharma, chairman of IkkJutt Jammu, a Jammu-based organization said that Jammu always wanted the delimitation exercise to be done on the basis of the 2021 Census and added that after estimating the 2011 Census, as per their calculation, there should have been 49 Assembly seats in Jammu and 41 in Kashmir had other parameters like area, accessibility etc. been given due weightage.
Also the political parties of Kashmir has opposed the proposal and stated it as unreasonable.
PAGD spokesperson and CPI(M) leader MY Tarigami on Tuesday, soon after a meeting of the grouping at National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah’s residence in Jammu said that this proposal will lead to more division in people of J&K and create a big gap.
While there was only reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) in J&K, Muslims in Kashmir did not get it as there are no SCs among Muslim community. However now even Muslims including Gujjars and Bakerwals have been granted reservation under Scheduled Tribe (ST) category as per the proposal of Delimitation Commission.
