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| Delimitation is political, not legal issue | | |
NIRBHAY JAMMUAL
Following the dismissal of the petitions challenging the postponement of the delimitation of Assembly seats till 2026 by the state High Court has indicated that the issue is political in nature. The Division Bench of the High court, comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice Mansoor Ahmed Mir, dismissed the two public interst litigations filed by the Panthers Party and the state Chief of the Samajwadi Party, Sheikh Abdur Rehman,on the plea that neither the constitution of India nor that of the State of Jammu and Kashmir had made it mandatory for the Government to reorganise the Assembly constituencies. The learned judges had cited various legal points in support of their decision to dismiss the petitions.
As was expected the Division Bench of the High Court took cognizance of legal issues involved in the setting up of delimitation commission. The Bench was not supposed to take into account the political aspirations of people. It was not within the purview of law that the judges would have taken note of the regional aspirations and tension over the delay in setting up of fresh delimitation commission. The Division Bench has,at the same time, stated that on the completion of census it was mandatory to readjust and redraw the Assembly constituencies because from time to time and from year to year population structure in each constituency keeps on changing. If the high court has dismissed the two petitions it has done on the basis of constitutional and legal provisions. In fact both the Panthers Party and Samajwadi party should not have filed petitions against the delay in delimitation in the high court because the leaders of these two parties should have by now understood that the issue has political ramifications. Those who have been demanding fresh delimitation of the Assembly constituencies belong to the Jammu region only. They have an argument. To them the successive state Governments have rejected the demand for fresh delimitation of the Assembly constituencies when they knew it that the Jammu region having more population and area than the Kashmir valley deserved to have more than 37 seats.
The last delimitation had been carried out in 1991-95.The K.K.Gupta led commission had again given a raw deal to the Jammu region because the difference in the number of constituencies between the Kashmir valley and the Jammu region has not been narrowed down.While Kashmir, which has lesser population than Jammu r egion,has 46 Asembly seats against 37 in Jammu. It is for the valley centric leadership to rectify this discrimination. They have fears that once Jammu region and the valley have equal number of Assembly seats power could get transferred from the summer capital to the winter capital of the state. Those who talk of injustice to the Jammu region say that in the Kashmir valley there is only one Assembly constituency of Batamaloo which has over one lakh voters. The number of voters in the remaining 45 constituencies ranges between 55,000 and 88,000.Against this there are about a dozen constituencies in the Jammu region where the each constituency has over one lakh voters. The Jammu West is on the top with about 1.80 lakh voters. Does it call for reorganisation of the Assembly segments so that by adding five to six seats in the region each constituency will not have more that 70,000 voters?..
The Jammuites want more Assembly constituencies for the region which could give them more representation in the council of ministers thereby ending regional discrimination. They believe that more Assembly constituencies may ensure more development funds. The NC-Congress coalition Government could win laurels in case it orders setting up fresh delimitation commission. At least the National Conference leadership may not venture to order redrawing of the Assembly constituencies as that could invite displeasure for the organisation in the Kashmir valley.
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