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| Delimitation: So Far, So Unfair | | Doda, Rajouri, Kathua, Udhampur Have Poor Representation In Legislative Assembly | | Daya Sagar
The Delimitations of single member assembly segments of the J&K Legislative Assembly as done so far since 1951 have been brutally unfair to the people living the backward, far-flung and remotely connected areas .The worst sufferers have been the people belonging to the areas falling in and around the district of Doda, Udhampur , Kathua and to some extent the District of Rajouri as well. The people in Baramulla District too had some unfair treatment but the same has been comparatively undone to great extent after 1975 .The basis as kept in the Representation of the People Act 1957 for providing to people their representative in the Legislative Assembly ( MLA ) have been ignored by the Delimitation Commissions. So far The spirit of the RPA Act and Constitution of J&K have been violated. If the present 87 seats are fairly distributed the MLAs for erstwhile Udhampur District would increase from 6 to atleast 8 , for Doda areas from 6 to atleast 11, for Kathua areas from 5 to atleast 7 and Rajouri from 4 to 5 . Seats in other districts would decrease from the present level. But still the overall share of Jammu region will be at least 45 out of 87 seats..
Erstwhile ( pre 2007 ) districts of Doda, Rajouri , Kathua , Udhampur have area of 21522 sq km and only 21 MLAs have been allocated . Where as the total area of erstwhile districts of Pulwama , Anantnag , Srinagar and Badgam is just 8981 sq km but 31 seats ( MLAs ) were allocated in 1995 to these districts. The J&K Representation of the people Act does not lay down population as the only criteria. It also lays down : (I ) Geographical Compactness ( distribution of people in Kashmir valley is very compact in comparison to Jammu region ) (ii) Nature of terrain ( Jammu region has not more than 25% plain terrain where as Kashmir region has more than 75 % terrain as plain ) (iii) facilities of Communication ( Percentage of area covered by roads in Kashmir valley is almost 2.5 times and (iv) like considerations as other parameters for consideration
A provision has been kept in the J&K Constitution itself under Section -50 keep 14 ( MLC ) elected members in Legislative Council from Jammu Region and only 12 (MLC) elected members in Legislative Council from Kashmir Region . Where as as regards the MLAs ( Member Legislative Assembly ) under Section 47 of J&K Constitution only the total number of MLAs in assembly has been laid down. But the number of MLAs has not been fixed separately for Jammu Region , Kashmir Region or Ladakh region. The job for deciding limits of MLA territories has been left designate institutions like Delimitation Commission in this case. Under the norms of RPA 1957 the seats as would get distributed over the areas falling in Jammu Region under a fair trial would too be more for Jammu Region like in Legislative Council as compared to Kashmir region. But in total disregard to spirit and provisions under lying the Constitution of J&K Justice K. K.Gupta Delimitation Commission had ordered on 27-04-1995 only 37 MLAs for Jammu Region and 46 MLAs for Kashmir Region. Where as it should have been 45 to 46 MLAs for Jammu and 37 to 38 MLAs for Kashmir region.
A representative of nearness to the people of the far flung areas is what the J&K Representation of People Act 1957aims at. But so far a fair treatment to those from areas with lesser connectivity and bad terrain as well as less geographical compactness has been denied . People living in areas of lesser geographical compactness ( in Udhampur, Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar , Reasi, Kathua ) have been so far denied rightful number of MLAs in the J&K Legislative Assembly.
A detailed exercise for distribution of seats as per the requirement of J&K Representation of People Act has been presented by me through Daily Excelsior ( 20 April 1992 on wards ) , Dainik Jagran, State Times , etc with facts and figures. . A logical analysis was done by me as per requirements of the Act and made public in 1992 itself .The Delimitation Commission headed by K. K. Gupta was on job then. Delimitation commission appointed in 1981 had not completed the job till 1992. As per my analysis ( 1992 ) the areas falling in Jammu region deserved more MLAs than Kashmir Region. Justice K. K. Gupta Commission ordered delimitation on 27-04-1995 .Had the job of delimitation been done honestly the Districts of DODA ( as existed in 1995), Udhampur ( as exited in 1995 ) , Kathua , Rajouri would surely get 8 to 10 seats more than what was allocated to these districts by K. K. Gupta Commission out of 87 seats.
The miseries, backwardness, illiteracy, poverty and ill health of the poor and backward area people has not been honestly medicated over last 50 years. It is also due to this reason that people of farflung areas have suffered the most due to militancy. In view of larger distances and difficult terrains the MLAs are not able to frequently foot their constituency. The people of DODA, Udhampur, Kathua , Rajouri , Kupwara , Baramulla and Kargil needed more attention. But overall damage has been more to the people of Doda, Udhampur, Kathua and Rajouri since they have less MLAs.
It appears that the proceedings of Delimitation Commission set up 1981 were intentionally delayed since logically it was not possible to give lesser MLAs to areas falling in Jammu Region . Chief Election Commissioner of India ( T N Sheshan ) too had first stood firmly against any wrong Delimitation. Sheshan had expressed reservations against Delimitation Commission ( J&K) notification issued under No. DIC/101 dated 28th September 1992 for final delimitation proposals. But it appeared that Sheshan too had to surrender before the Valley centric approach of Delhi since the final order dated 27-04-1995 of the review Delimitation Commission was no different than the earlier notification date 28-09-1992 that had been contested by T. N. Seshan..
Congress PDP Government in J&K had in July 2002 promised for setting up a fresh Delimitation Commission for Single Member segments of J&K Legislative Assembly. But no bill was introduced in the Assembly till 28 June for amending the 29th Constitutional amendment under which any delimitation had been forbidden till publication of census figures that would be done after 2026. But the mind set of the leadership from Jammu has been so dwarf that even some leaders from Jammu have not dared to demand more seats for Jammu as compared to Kashmir. Even Bhartiya Janta Party till 1995 demanded only 38 to 39 out of 87 for Jammu region. Harsh Dev Singh Ji of Bhim Singh’s National Panther Party did raise the issue of Delimitation in J&K Legislative assembly on 6 February 2007. But Harsh Dev Singh too demanded that number of seats in Jammu Region be made equal to Kashmir Region through a legislation and then delimitation be done. Even Harsh Dev Singh ji did not dare demand more MLAs than Kashmir Region for Jammu Region . Still in August 2008 JK PP maintained that Jammu and Kashmir Regions should have equal number of MLAs. Prof Bhim Singh is a renowned luminary in the legal field but he too has not been able to appreciate honestly the real requirements of J&K Representation of People Act 1957. Elections if held without fresh delimitation it would carry on the disadvantage to areas of erstwhile districts of Doda, Kathua, Udhampur and Rajouri for six more years. If the present 87 seats are fairly distributed the MLAs for erstwhile Udhampur District may increase from 6 to 8 , for Doda areas from 6 to 11, for Kathua areas from 5 to7 and Rajouri from 4 to 5 . Seats in some districts would decrease from the present level.But still the overall share of Jammu region will be atleast 45 to 46 out of 87.
Non implementation of Wazir Commission report as regards carving three more districts in Jammu as against only one in Kashmir region too had some link with Delimitation of assembly segments. As per Wazir Commission Recommendations Jammu Region would have got 9 Districts and Kashmir Region would have only 7 Districts. Jammu region would have 2 districts more than Kashmir Region. But Congress leadership could not dare to face such a hard and true fact of justice. The 3 districts recommended by Wazir Commission in 1984 were given in 2007. One could imagine the direct loss suffered by the people of Kishtwar, Reasi and Samba in terms of the development funds that are allocated on the basis of Districts. Sheikh Abdullah had carved three new districts in Kashmir Valley ( Badgam, Pulwama and Kupwara ) in 1979 simply through a cabinet order But even when a Commission Recommended 3 new districts for Jammu region in 1984 implementation was not done for 20 years. This also explains why the delimitation of assembly seats started in 1981 was done only in 1995 and that too with total disregard to the requirements of the Constitution . . Pressures generated in 2006 from the areas of Basoli, Akhnoor, Bilawar and Bhaderwah for a District status after Shopian, Ganderbal and Kulgam have been accorded District status are the result of continued unfair treatment. Ladakh region inview of the vast and difficult terrain too is simmering.
( Daya Sagar is social activist and senior coloumnist on Kashmir affairs). |
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