English Article

Drawing A Line

Any attempt to repurpose the politics of J&K with the delimitation exercise is bound to fail

The proposed remapping of Assembly constituencies in the Union Territory (UT) by the J&K Delimitation Commission has got the entire spectrum of regional parties in the Kashmir Valley up in arms. At the core of their protest is the fear of a shift of political power to the Jammu region. The Commission has suggested six additional Assembly segments in Jammu, from 37 to 43, and one in the Valley, from 46 to 47. The political map is being redrawn not entirely on considerations of the population spread. Additional constituencies are being proposed, based also on factors of “inadequate communication” and “lack of public conveniences due to their excessive remoteness or inhospitable conditions on the international border”. Such considerations may have been applied in earlier instances too, but what makes the present situation unique is the shift of political power from the Muslim region to the Hindu region, and the fact that it comes after the reorganisation of the erstwhile J&K State into two UTs and the controversial elimination of its special constitutional status in 2019. The commission was constituted on March 6, 2020, by virtue of the Parliament Act under the provisions of Part V of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019. It was mandated to redraw and delineate seven additional Assembly segments to the 83-member Legislative Assembly of the UT.