-Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo
An exercise
that fixes or limits boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country to
represent changes in population is called the Delimitation process. As a result
of this process, the number of seats allocated to different states and union
territories in the Lok Sabha and the total number of seats in a Legislative
Assembly can change as per the need of the situation. Generally, the redrawing
of boundaries is based on a recent census. The body that is directly entrusted
the responsibility to do the delimitation exercise is called the Delimitation
Commission.
Delimitation
is conducted mainly for the reasons to have equal representation for equal
segments of a population and to have a fair division of geographical areas so
that no political party has an undue advantage over the others. The
Delimitation Commission is a high-level body set up by an act of the
Parliament. It works in tandem with the Election Commission of India and is
appointed by the President of India. Its orders cannot be questioned in a court
of law and the copies of the orders of the Commission are finally laid on the
table of the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies concerned, but no change
is permitted in them. The Delimitation Commission has to determine the number
and boundaries of constituencies in addition to identifying the seats to be
reserved for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes communities.
The Commission
releases draft proposals to the public through the Gazette of India and the
official gazettes of states, and also in regional language newspapers. It also
conducts public sittings wherein the public’s opinion is heard through written
or oral representations. If found appropriate, changes are made to the draft
proposal. The final order is published in the Gazettes and comes into effect by
a date specified by the President of India.
Delimitation
Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal, Manipur and
Nagaland was formed last year in March with a former Supreme Court judge
Ranjana Prakash Desai as its Chairperson, to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly
constituencies of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern
states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.
According to
section 60 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, "...the number of
seats in the Legislative Assembly of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall
be increased from 107 to 114...." Out of these, 24 seats are in
Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. So effectively, the seats will go up from
83 to 90. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir came into being on October
31, 2019 after the state was reorganised and bifurcated into two union
territories, Ladakh being the other consequent upon the parliamentary action on
5-6 August 2019.
Ahead of
Delimitation Commission meeting on 18th February 2021, the Kashmiri Pandits
pushed for reservation in Legislative Assembly post abrogation of Article 370.
The Kashmiri Pandits have asked the government to reserve/nominate five seats
for the minority community in the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir
Union Territory.
This author
submitted a memorandum to the Delimitation Commission and also endorsed its
copy to one of its ex-officio members and the MoS, PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh. The
missive raised some very pertinent and important concerns regarding the subject
matter which among others include the following.
There has to
be a forward march towards ending discrimination with the people of the UT
through the intervention of the Delimitation Commission now. There can’t be two
opinions about the facts of discrimination and bias against the region of Jammu
in respect of delimitation earlier which allotted three seats to the Kashmir
valley and two seats only to the Jammu region for the Parliament in addition to
giving 46 Assembly seats to Kashmir valley and 37 seats to Jammu division. This
was and remains a violation of the fundamental rights in terms of equality and
equal opportunities.
The issue of
the representation of the Kashmiri Pandits, through Delimitation of
constituencies is an important part of the road ahead in Jammu and Kashmir and
there are expectations that the discrimination with a large portion of the
population in the UT will come to an end by a judicious Delimitation process
and report in the near future.
Kashmiri
Pandit community, which is living as refugees in its own country for the last
more than three decades now has remained unrepresented all along due to
gerrymandering of constituencies in the valley. A fervent appeal is made to the
Delimitation Commission to exercise its powers to send such a recommendation to
the President and the government of India that settles the unsettled issue of
politically important concern of the Kashmiri Pandit community. It will also
help in paving way for the resettlement of the community in the valley,
eventually, as per their geo-political aspirations in the days to come.
There should
be a clear cut reservation/nomination for the minority community in the valley
(comprising Kashmiri Pandits, Kashmiri Sikhs & non-Kashmiri speaking Hindus
in the valley) in the Legislative Assembly, and also one seat each should be
reserved/nominated in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for them. Pudducherry
Assembly, which has an arrangement for three nominated seats, in this context,
is a guiding and leading example.
The forced
mass exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits was an unimaginable situation for the
founding fathers of the constitution, thus there was no provision in the
constitution for ensuring their representation in exile. Having experienced
such a scenario over the last three decades, the Indian state is directly
confronted with the question to ensure suitable representation of the exiled
community, which is also the indigenous community of the valley of Kashmir, in
both the parliament as well as the assembly of the UT.
Earlier, in
absence of an opportunity and the constitutional mechanism, the government
shied away from taking any concrete step in this connection. But now with the
golden opportunity available, the precedence and the constitutional wayout in
front of us, the State of India will be answerable so far as its intent in this
context is concerned.
The intent can
be well translated into action and the dream can be converted into a reality by
invoking the doctrine of reservation or nomination in favour of the minority
and exiled communities of the valley of Kashmir. The off-repeated phrase that
'Kashmir is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits' used by all the political
parties and politicians is on actual test.
The
Delimitation Commission will confront the test of its intent on behalf of the
Indian state viz a viz the people who were forced to live in exile in their own
country due to the failure of the state to protect them. The instrumentalities
of the state, the Election Commission of India, Ministry of Home Affairs
and the Delimitation Commission along with the elected representative MPs from
the state have the best opportunity available to take concrete measures for
confidence building among the minorities of the valley. We pray they pass the
real test of intent to the satisfaction of all and in particular the indigenous
people of the Kashmir valley, the Kashmiri Pandits..!
(Author is
Currently Incharge Deptt of Political Affairs & feedback, J&K
BJP. He can be
reached on ashwanikc2012@gmail.com)
-Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo