Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 10: Undermining the authority of Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has explicitly announced to reserve 10 seats for Gujjar community in Kashmir.
The Delimitation Commission is to be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, while Election Commission Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner of J&K and four others will be ex-officio members, the notification issued by the Centre said.
Only the Delimitation Commission has the authority and power to delimit the constituencies but talking to a news portal the BJP leader claimed that 10 seats would be reserved for Gujjars in Kashmir.
Basically a Pahari, the BJP leader was trying to speak in Gojri dialect, with an aim to strike an emotional-chord with Gujjars and Bakerwals. Explaining about the areas, where Gujjars and Bakerwals have been residing, the BJP leader claimed that there was a huge population of Gujjars and Bakerwals in Baramulla, Rafiabad, Kangal, Pahalgam, beside other areas. “.......10 Seats Reserve Krangan Gujjaran Waste Kashmir Man........”, he said in Gojri, which means: “Will reserve 10 seats for Gujjars in Kashmir Valley...”.
Enthusiastically, he went on to add that the Gujjars would win twenty seats and BJP would win 30-35 seats and BJP would form a government with the support of Gujjars, after which the map of Jammu and Kashmir would be changed.
A political analyst said, “How a BJP leader can claim that seats will be reserved for Gujjars in? It is clearly undermining the authority of Delimitation Commission. If the overtures of BJP leader could be taken seriously, these will put a question mark over the upcoming exercise”. He said, “We will have to see whether the Delimitation Commission would work independently or on remote control?”
Another politician said that the speech of BJP leader could be a signal about the upcoming game plan, likely to unfold in the political sphere of Jammu and Kashmir but the BJP high command should take cognizance of such statements, which could put the credibility of the Delimitation Commission at stake.
The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir would delimit the constituencies of J&K as per Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, Section 60 of which reads, “the number of seats n the legislative assembly of JK UT shall be increased from 107 to 114....”. |
