Last Updated on July 10, 2021 at 11:53 am
During the meeting with Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission, political parties demanded an increase in Assembly segments in the Chenab Valley in the Jammu province.
BJP’s Sunil Sharma suggested that 2011 should not be the base for delimitation. He said that population should not only be the criteria rather the terrain, its vastness, accessibility and scattered population should be taken into consideration. “The Chenab Valley should be seen as per the watershed of the river Chenab and accordingly new constituencies should be identified”, Sharma said.
J&K BJP President Ravinder Raina said that they want political reservation for POJK (Pakistan Occupied J&K) refugees by de-freezing the eight assembly seats, three seats for Kashmiri Pandits, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other people who have been neglected.
A proposal has been submitted to the panel in Jammu by National Conference (NC) provincial leader Devender Singh Rana same as the BJP demands in framing a new criterion to delimit constituencies. In the memorandum it is mentioned that delimitation should be as per the constitutional framework based on the basic tenets of delimitation, population, geography, topography, area, physical features, contiguity, convenience of administrative units and facilities of easy communication and approachability of public convenience.
But it is ironic that NC in Srinagar demanded that population should be the only criteria to delineate constituencies and did not ask for any other reservations. However, Rana, in the memorandum said that there were geographical and topographical challenges in the Jammu region and certain areas are far flung, inaccessible, remote, backward and mountainous.
G.M. Saroori and Vikar Rasool, top Congress leaders also met the panel in Kishtwar and demanded three more constituencies for the Chenab Valley, comprising the Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban belt and said that population as in plains should not determine new constituencies in uneven terrains.
The Congress also expressed fears that constituencies will be created on the religious lines. “It should not be that Hindu pockets are separated from the Muslim pockets. The natural borders and not religious lines should be focused to create any new constituency,” Mr. Rasool said.
