J&K Delimitation Commission proposals notified in Govt Gazette in terms of Sec-60(5) of Act34 of 2019. No doubt DC appears Taking TASK seriously but More is needed to undo the wrongs done of 7- Decades DC holds a pious and high-level responsibility as its order can’t be challenged in any Court.
The Delimitation Commission for UT of J&K (DC) has, under public notice No.282/J&K/2022(Vol. II) Dated: 14th March 2022 23, Phalguna, 1943 (Saka), invited objections and suggestions in relation to its proposals for the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir for elections to the House of People and the Legislative Assembly for the Union Territory as having been published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary and in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir Gazette, both dated 14th March 2022 to reach the Secretary, Delimitation Commission (Ashoka Hotel, 50-B, Niti Marg, Chankyapuri, New Delhi-110021) on or before 1700 hrs on 21st March 2022 Monday). The Commission has given only seven days to file objections and make suggestions. To be brief, Order–1 Refers to have determined the number of constituencies for the House of People (Lok Sabha) from UT of J&K the number of constituencies for the Legislative Assembly of UT (although these numbers have already been laid down in the Reorganisation of J&K Act No 34 of 2019 as 5 & 90 respectively) and determined the number of constituencies to be reserved for SC & ST as 7 & 9 respectively in proportion to the population as laid in Act 34, taking reference to Census-2011 data. There is no scope for any objections and suggestions regarding the numbers contained herein.
Regarding deciding the extents and limits of constituencies, particularly that of the Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K, there is scope for making observations. India that is Bharat, a Democratic Republic, has adopted a Parliamentary System of Governance (Lok Sabha / House of People and Rajya Sabha / Upper House). States, too, have a Legislature with a Legislative Assembly (constituted through direct election), and states of AP, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, UP, Telangana (and, of course, erstwhile J&K also) also have a Legislative Council (constituted through indirect election). Chief Minister of State/U.T. is the powerhead of the Government and has to be a member of the Legislature from the political party/ group that has a majority in the Legislative Assembly (ministers appointed with the choice of Chief Minister too have to be members of the legislature). Governor/L.G. is just a nominal head of state who has to go with the advice of the council of ministers. So the preferences on plans/decisions regarding administrative, economic, developmental and like needs/ requirements of the people/ a region/ segment do directly or indirectly influence the level of representation of people of class/ segment/ region in the Legislative Assembly.
Since there has not been fairly due representation in numbers to the distant/ backward/ bad terrain area people in the Legislative Assembly of the erstwhile state of J&K (and hence in the Government too) right since 1957, these areas/ people had not received due attention for good road connectivity, for commercial exploitation of the great tourism potential (summer/ winter/ adventure/health/ that existed there, for promotion of Agriculture/ Horticulture/ not even pulses like Rajmas & did not get due share in superior government services and most of such areas lie in the districts of Kishtwar, Doda, Reasi, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Ramban, Udhampur, Samba and, to some extent, Bandipora/ Baramulla.
So, the marking of the individual Constituencies of a Legislative Assembly for direct election of MLA segments (single-member segments) of a Legislative Assembly is of great significance for the people in a state which too was very well the spirit underlying Section-4 of J&K Representation of the People Act 1957 that laid the parameters for a delimitation commission to work with for deciding the extent of the boundaries of the constituencies for the Legislative Assembly of the J&K State; and now similar parameters have been laid down for deciding the extent of the boundaries of the constituencies for the Legislative Assembly of the UT of J&K vide Sub Section(2) of Section-60 of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, Act no 34 (In determining the matters referred to in clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (1), the Election Commission shall have regard to the following provisions, namely:— (a) all the constituencies shall be single-member constituencies; (b) all constituencies shall, as far as practicable, be geographically compact areas, and in delimiting them, regard shall be had to physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and conveniences to the public). So the first need is to look into the Delimitation Commission proposals regarding the Legislative Assembly.
The Notification in "Proposals" refers to the territorial constituencies into which the UT of J&K shall be divided for elections to the Legislative Assembly of UT (Table-A) and particular constituencies that are to be reserved for ST and SC. As regards the extent (boundaries) of the individual constituencies of the Legislative Assembly are concerned, there appears to be enough scope for filing suggestions and objections before the Hon'ble Delimitation Commission keeping in view that the Commission, in its proposed order, is deciding to allocate only 43 Constituencies of Legislative Assembly for the areas of UT outside Kashmir Valley and 47 Constituencies of the Legislative Assembly for areas falling in Kashmir Valley which do not 'technically' fit with the in parameters constitutionally laid down for delimitation of constituencies of a legislative assembly since 4 out of 5 of the parameters other than population (2011 census) favour the distant/bad/ backward area people most of which are outside Kashmir valley which surely qualifies for at least four more MLAs in terms constitutionally laid down parameters on the overall basis even based on 2011 census for rightful voice in the Legislative Assembly / Government.
Like the unfairness of the earlier and the only order by a delimitation commission for JK LA as was passed in 1995, the draft proposals of the present delimitation commission (though some efforts appear to have been made for applying corrections) too do not pass the test for the reasons / historical facts like
(A) The 1951 delimitation of the segments of J&K Constituent Assembly had been done on an ad hoc basis (over the areas of J&K excluding the areas occupied by Pakistan in 1947-48) taking the population as the only factor (40000 souls/seat) with census -1941 (4051158 for whole princely State of J&K) as reference. The population for the leftover districts of Anantnag and Baramulla in Kashmir valley was wrongly assumed to be as large as 17,20,000 when the population, including Muzaffarabad District, was just 17,28,686 whereas for left the then Poonch jagir, Chenani Jagir Jammu district, Kathua District, Reasi district, Udhampur district so erroneously for reference was assumed as only 12,00,000 when population including Mirpur District (was 20.10,557) thereby distributing 43 seats in Kashmir valley and just 30 seats in areas that now form part of Jammu Region. The Constitution of J&K was finalised in 1957 by the Constituent Assembly and taking real notice of the extent and needs of different areas of the then J&K State, the Constituent Assembly, in spite of having more members from Kashmir Valley (43 members) under Section-50 constitutionally kept on the regional basis more (14) elected seats in the Legislative Council (MLCs) for areas outside Kashmir valley as in Jammu region (that had lesser (30) members in Constituent Assembly) and just 12 elected MLCs for Kashmir Valley. Whereas for the Legislative Assembly, the seats were kept on a total basis to be adjusted for the extent /and boundaries every 10 years. In 1957 J&K Representation of Peoples Act 1957, Act No. IV of 1957 was enacted, laying down very clearly the guidelines/parameters {Section- 4, Sub Section–2, Clause a (i): Population, a (ii): Geographical Compactness, a (iii): Nature of Terrain, a (iv): Facilities of Communication, a (v): And like considerations } for delimitation of the extent & boundaries of constituencies of Legislative Assembly The spirit underlying the Section-4 of RPA 1957 was sure to provide a representative of nearness both in time distance in the legislative assembly to the people represented by keeping the focus on the distant/ backward areas & people. It was expected that with the J&K Representation of Peoples Act 1957 in place, the distribution of constituencies of the Legislative Assembly shall be done fairly and like elected MLCs in Legislative Council, the MLAs in the Legislative Assembly shall also be kept more for the Jammu region but instead, the governments that followed carried shadows of distribution as was in the erstwhile Constituent Assembly
(B) The Jammu Region after 1947 till 1978 comprised six districts (Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Doda) and Kashmir valley of only three districts (Anantnag, Srinagar, Baramulla). With the awareness about the wrong distribution of MLAs growing, the Government that followed in their attempt to cover the wrong distribution of MLA seats over areas of J&K and to create illusions increased the districts from 3 to 10 in Kashmir valley and also from 6 to only 10 in Jammu region by 2006.
(C) So far, there has been only one order of a regular Delimitation Commission (started work in 1981) passed in April 1995 too did not draw the extents/ boundaries in line with parameters as laid in J&K RPA 1957 to give a representative of nearness in time and distance to people instead distributed 46 elected MLAs over areas that had constitutionally just 12 elected MLCs and only 37 MLAs over areas that had more (14) MLCs as per Section -50.
(D) It has been due to there being no due representation in numbers to areas outside Kashmir Valley that in the Legislative Assembly of the erstwhile state of J&K (and hence in the Government too) that these areas lacked good road connectivity, had nearly nil for commercial exploitation of the great tourism potential (summer/ winter/ adventure/health/) that existed there, no noticeable promotion of Agriculture/ Horticulture/ not even pulses like Rajmas as well as share in superior government services for the people of areas lie in the districts of Kishtwar, Doda, Reasi, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Ramban, Udhampur, Samba.
(E) Almost all the 1947 times -displaced families from POJK areas had arrived in the areas outside Kashmir valley, and they have been found still struggling for their basic demands for adequate socio-economic support, but very less has been spoken for them in the Legislature, one should ask why? No doubt it has been for technical reasons that they have not been given claims for the properties left behind, but much more was required to be done for them since they have been waiting for their ‘hearths’; now for 7 decades.
So it is worthwhile to agree that the task for Delimitation, particularly as regards deciding the extents/ boundaries of the individual constituencies (single-member segments – MLA) of the first Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K, is of special significance in comparison to any other delimitation exercise that might have been done before March 2020 in Independent India after the related codes/parameters were laid down for deciding the individual segments in a Legislative Assembly through the Acts of Parliament / Legislative Assembly of the erstwhile state of J&K as per Constitution of India / J&K Constitution, particularly for the historical reasons as briefed herein before. But for territories that are now included in UT of J&K had 83 MLAs in the LA of J&K State Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, Act no 34 has laid down that these areas now in UT will be divided into 90 constituencies keeping in view almost the similar parameters for delimitation, but the proposals of present Delimitation Commission too have lesser MLAs for areas outs side Kashmir valley. Hence, the need for suggesting and requesting the Hon’ble Delimitation Commission reconsider the proposals for an intimate and meaningful review.
No doubt it appears that Delimitation Commission has to some extent, given serious/ needed consideration to the requirements of the areas and people of UT of J&K but still some more needs to be done to extend due representation and voice in the future legislature & popular governments to the people of the distant/ backward areas of the UT of J&K who had been denied fair representation even by the only regular delimitation order of 1995.
The Delimitation order for UT of J&K, as notified on 14th March in J&K Gazette as has (in Table-A) distributed 47 MLA constituencies in the Districts that presently lie in the Valley and 43 MLAs over areas outside Kashmir valley out of 90 Legislative Assembly Constituencies. In the notification, no any information/basis / data has been mentioned (as regards the areas, topography, terrains, the length of all-weather roads/blacktop connectivity, physicals/ fair-weather roads /% area covered by different categories of roads etc. at region/district levels) that could be supposed to have been taken into consideration for fixing the limits in terms of the parameters laid down constitutionally in Sub Section (2) of Section-60 of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, Act no 34 (In determining the matters referred to in clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (1), the Election Commission shall have regard to the following provisions, namely:— (a) all the constituencies shall be single-member constituencies; (b) all constituencies shall, as far as practicable, be geographically compact areas, and in delimiting them, regard shall be had to physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and conveniences to the public;) and earlier in the J&K Representation of the People Act 1957.
Had the data that the commission might have taken into consideration for deciding the distribution of assembly constituencies at the macro level (regional level) & micro level ( district level) been also published, the suggestions/objections could then be made on all specifics of the proposals but since that is not available in the notification published in the gazettes so no observation can be made now except humbly submitting to commission that proposals as regards distributing the Assembly constituencies surely require reconsideration and presently no objections/ suggestions can be pointedly submitted as regards individual boundaries of constituencies for legislative assembly (which is first consideration here).
Therefore, in the instant case of UT of J&K, for facilitating delimitation near to fairness, better would be to first decide on ad hoc distribution of constituencies on macro-level (Regional Basis) and on micro-level (District basis). But no such criteria/data has been mentioned in the notification/ Order-1 as placed in the public domain through the Gazette notification of 14-03-2022. No doubt in the note of dissent submitted in response to Draft working papers / Draft proposals dated 25 Feb 2022 said to be made available by the Commission to the Associate members S/S Dr Farooq Abdullah, Hon’ble MP Mohd Akbar Lone), and Hon’ble MP Hasnain Masoodi it has been mentioned at point (17) that the Commission has categorised the Districts in 3 groups in terms of some Paper -1, but no such details are there in main notification/order published in the gazette on 14-03-2022. So, it is not possible to make specific objections/suggestions with respect to the draft order of the commission except most humbly observing that:
(i) on the face of it, on a macro basis, the proposed Delimitation order of the Commission needs reconsideration since it does not test the reality of the constitutional facts laid down in Section-50 of erstwhile J&K Constitution where the areas that had constitutionally 14 elected MLC have been given only 43 MLAs whereas the areas in Kashmir valley that had lesser MLCs (12) have been given more MLAs (47).
(ii) Population is only one of the 5 or so parameters laid constitutionally for delimitation of the constituencies of a Legislative Assembly, and even if, as per the 2011 census population of the Kashmir Valley districts is more than the areas outside Kashmir Valley, the areas outside Kashmir Valley deserve more MLAs in terms of Sub Section (2) of Section-60 of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, Act no 34. The observations/objections as received by the commission from three associate members from Kashmir Valley & as have been published have in a way opined that population should be taken as the only factor, which is surely not a rightfully conceived wisdom in terms of the constitutionally laid down guidelines/ parameters for locating/deciding constituencies for a legislative assembly & spirit underlying therein. How far population could matter in comparison to parameters like geographical area/ compactness, topography, terrains, the all-weather road/blacktop connectivity, physicals/area covered by roads etc. at region/district levels could also be well-read from the facts like that an MLA from Uttar Pradesh voting in Presidential Elections carries a vote value of 208 and that from J&K carried a vote value of just 72 and that of Sikkim only 7 ( pl see table–XXX). For broader status of the likely impact of other parameters, laid in law for consideration by a DC, for the areas in Kashmir Valley and those outside Kashmir Valley, a fair view of the irrationality of the delimitations done in the past could be sensed to great extent from Table -YYY.
B- (iii) keeping in view the broader information on physicals that could be overseen by the writer keeping in view the guiding parameters as laid down for delimitation of constituencies of a Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K in Sub Section(2) of Section-60 of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, Act no 34 there can be sensed a fair case for distributing on macro level at least 47-48 MLA constituencies over areas lying outside Kashmir valley and 43 to 42 MLA in areas other than Jammu region ( Kashmir valley). A broader sketch has been drawn for macro distribution in Table – YYY placed herein . The official certified data can have some differences but shall not be worth overturning the balances projected in the table-YYY
(iv). Section-60(5) of the Act-34 says delimitation commission, after considering all objections and suggestions which may have been received by it before the date so specified, determine by one or more orders the delimitation of constituencies and cause such order or orders to be published in the Official Gazette, and thereupon such publication, the order or orders shall have the full force of law and shall not be called in question in any court. In other words, the Hon’ble Delimitation Commission is the body appointed to execute an assignment as per the parameters constitutionally laid down after obtaining all types of needed data/information, analysing the same, then laying down the real maps of the individual segments of a Legislative Assembly and finalising the same only after taking opinion (though opinions not binding) of all the stake holders.
Hence, the Commission is placed with a pious responsibility of a much higher level since the final order of the Commission can not be challenged in any court of law. Whereas even the judgement order of HC or SC can be challenged.
(v) The Delimitation Commission may kindly also make the official data ( like geographical areas, topography, terrains/ physicals, the all-weather road/blacktop connectivity/% area covered by roads region/district wise, population etc.) at region/district levels as obtained from the Government of J&K and basis drew for classification of districts otherwise it is not possible for persons from official outside arena to make specific observations.
(vi) The task before the DC is a unique & special type requiring undoing the wrongs of over 7 decades. The Commission has taken already 2 years to notify draft order for public comments but has given only 7 days time to the people of UT of J&K and those connected with affairs related to UT from outside the official arena which is too less a period and that too when the minimum data has not been included in the notification/ notice/ draft order.
As regards the 5 constituencies of the upper house (Lok Sabha) there is not much to be deliberated on that, and any particular suggestions that may be still required can be made after the constituencies of the Legislative Assembly are redrafted by the DC after taking into consideration the suggestions & objections that have been invited from the general public up to 21-03-2022.
Hoping that the Hon’ble Delimitation Commission shall provide more opportunity/data/information in the next notification to obtain more specific inputs for further review.
(The writer is a Sr Journalist & leading scribe in J&K affairs)
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