The problems inherent in redrawing of Jammu and Kashmir by the Delimitation Commission persist, with a second draft following talks additionally working into objections.
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As per its second draft report, shared with its 5 members on February 24, the panel has steered that the Rajouri Assembly seat be reserved for STs instead of Poonch Haveli, that had been proposed earlier; restoration of Suchetgarh, as an alternative of its merger with RS Pura and Bishnah; SC-reserved standing for Suchetgarh; restoration of Srinagar’s Habba Kadal constituency with its sizeable Kashmiri Pandit migrant voters; and renaming of the newly proposed Mughal Maidaan as Inderwal. Apart from this, the fee has additionally redrawn boundaries of some seats in each Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
Non-BJP events have denounced the adjustments as favoring the BJP. PDP spokesperson Firdous Tak stated the adjustments “give credence to our apprehensions that the Commission is working at the behest of the BJP”. Apni Party spokesperson Vikram Malhotra stated “the BJP got everything done for its political convenience”, whereas Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma stated “the Delimitation Commission has done dissection instead of delimitation”.
The suggestion to not reserve Poonch Haveli for STs adopted widespread protests within the constituency, which is basically inhabited by folks of Kashmiri origin, at such a change. The constituency’s inhabitants comprised 36.60% tribals. To shift the ST standing to Rajouri — regardless of solely 33.84% of its inhabitants being tribal — the panel has now steered including Fatehpur, Doongi and Bagla from the proposed Thanamandi constituency. This would take Rajouri’s tribal numbers to 37.18% of the inhabitants. Thanamandi too could be ST reserved as per the Delimitation Commission.
Shafiq Mir, chairperson of the Buffliaz Block Development Council, questioned the grouping collectively, in flip, of Manjakote and Thanamandi tehsils, together with Sohna patwar circle belonging to Rajouri, to the brand new seat of Thanamandi.
While on the map, it seems a geographically compact constituency, in actuality Thanamandi falls on the Mughal Road and Manjakote on the Line of Control with Pakistan. The two tehsils are linked by solely a single-lane fair-weather Ghambir Mughlan street. The solely all-weather double-lane street connecting the 2 would fall, as per the proposed adjustments, within the Rajouri constituency.
Similarly, Khawas tehsil has been added to a different ST-reserved constituency, Darhal, regardless of the circuitous route linking the 2.
Questions are additionally being raised over the proposal to shift practically 20 villages which might be presently a part of the Kalakote constituency to Rajouri, whereas transferring Sunderbani tehsil from Nowshera seat to Kalakote. The adjustments would increase the variety of Hindus in each Rajouri and Kalakote, Mir stated.
Former MLA Gagan Bhagat stated the sooner proposal to merge Suchetgarh with SC-reserved RS Pura was additionally ill-conceived, as Suchetgarh had an SC inhabitants of solely 15-20%. There have been protests over the proposal, with allegations that the BJP authorities had finished this to punish Suchetgarh because the celebration’s former minister Sham Choudhary had misplaced the DDC election from right here to an Independent, Taranjit Singh Tony.
While Suchetgah is now again as a seat, it stays reserved, with additions to it from RS Pura tehsil elevating its inhabitants of SCs to 42.84%.
This means RS Pura constituency will stop to exist because the Commission has proposed including the remaining areas of RS Pura teshil to Jammu South and creation of a brand new seat, RS Pura-Jammu South.
Pitting SCs in opposition to non-SCs and tribals in opposition to non-tribals, the delimitation is engineering hatred and dividing folks to swimsuit a specific celebration, Bhagat stated.
Former Congress MLA from Inderwal and ex-minister GM Saroori questioned the logic behind creation of a brand new constituency every in Kishtwar and Doda districts – respectively, Padder, with a inhabitants of 51,279 as per the 2011 Census, and Doda West, with a inhabitants of 1.07 lakh.
At least, areas falling underneath Doda Municipal Committee ought to have gone on one aspect, Saroori stated. He additionally requested how Padder had change into a seat with simply 51,279 inhabitants, half the dimensions of a number of the others, arguing that this was finished to swimsuit “one particular party”.
Explaining this, Asif Iqbal Naik, an area journalist, stated the Delimitation Commission has now segregated areas predominantly inhabited by Hindus in numerous tehsils of Kishtwar district and added them into Kishtwar and Padder constituencies, with out checking the gap between them.
While a lot of the Hindu-inhabited Drabshalla tehsil has been added to Kishtwar, its Balgran patwar circle predominantly inhabited by Muslims has gone with Inderwal. Likewise, one other Hindu neighborhood habitat, Mulchiter Patwar Circle, has been taken out from Inderwal’s Muslim neighborhood Mughal Maidan tehsil and added to Kishtwar, he identified.
All this may enhance the Hindu numbers in Kishtwar constituency.
Similarly, the Padder constituency shall be predominantly Hindu.
Denying that the adjustments would profit the BJP, senior celebration chief Davinder Singh Rana stated the delimitation course of has been fully clear and its selections primarily based on the fundamental tenets of inhabitants, geography, topography, space, bodily options, contiguity, comfort of administrative items and amenities of straightforward communication and approachability of public conveniences. Those opposing the train wished inhabitants to be the one criterion, Rana stated.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
