CPI(M) leader Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami on Sunday said that the draft proposal of the Delimitation Commission has recommended a strange geographical layout for redrawing the boundaries of several parliamentary and assembly poll constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir.
The draft proposal shared by the Commission with its associate members—as media reports suggest—seems even incongruous with the Commission’s earlier argument of taking into account the topography and difficult terrain while re-mapping the poll constituencies.
The Commission has proposed an arbitrary overhaul in the existing territorial constituencies with no regard for even the terrain, let alone the population that tends to be a basic parameter for redrawing the boundaries of assembly and parliamentary segments.
The Commission has proposed carving of Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency comprising Rajouri and Poonch districts from Jammu division, and Anantnag, Kulgam and parts of Shopian from Kashmir division. The fair weather Mughal road connecting the districts of Poonch and Rajouri with Kulgam and Anantnag districts via Shopian remains shut for months together, making the border districts off-limits to the Valley. The draft proposal lays bare the utter disregard for the topography and tribal population.
There is a general feeling among the masses in both the regions—Jammu and Kashmir—that the Commission’s recommendations are in line with the current ruling dispensation.
The Delimitation Commission, which was supposed to serve as an independent constitutional authority is seen as furthering the interests of one particular political party only to fetch them electoral gains.
CPI (M) has already made it clear that the draft proposal of the Commission is unpalatable to the party and the CPI(M) has moved to the Supreme Court to challenge the Reorganization Act itself under which the delimitation process has been initiated.
CPI(M) rejects the proposal in its present form and emphatically believes that the draft recommendations are inimical to the larger interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which could jeopardize regional unity.
CPI(M) calls on the people of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the rest of the country to speak out against the policies that seek to divide the region along communal lines.
