Draft ready, J&K delimitation panel may seek seats for Pandits

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Making some significant strides, the delimitation panel for Jammu and Kashmir has nearly finalised its ‘first paper’ — a draft proposal for allocation of constituencies — and will soon be sharing it with associate members, The Economic Times has learnt.

ET gathers that the Commission may also ultimately recommend that the government consider bringing representation for Kashmiri Pandits in J&K assembly through law, as the delimitation process cannot do so since it is bound by its limited terms of reference and the J&K Reorganization Act, 2019.

The two only provide for creating new reserved seats for just one category- the Scheduled Tribes.

Kashmiri Pandits have recently made a representation to the PMO besides the Delimitation panel seeking either the ‘Sangha model’ of Sikkim where a ‘floating’ constituency is reserved for Buddhist monks or like the nomination models seen in Puducherry assembly or for Anglo Indian as possible methods to ensure representation of ‘minorities’ in the J&K assembly.

They have argued that over 5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits continue to go unrepresented in J&K and have sought the Delimitation panel’s intervention on the same.

Meanwhile, the first paper on the allocation and resizing of 90 assembly constituencies including seats for STs in J&K is in ‘a stage of readiness’ and the delimitation panel is likely to invite associate members in December itself to discuss the same.

This is a necessary step following which a draft notification will be put out in public domain prior to final notification of delimitation plan.

The panel has a March 2022 deadline for submission of its delimitation plan.

While associate members have no voting or signing rights, their views are taken on board, including dissenting opinions, which are put on record in the notification of delimitation. The five ‘associate’ members from J&K are Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mohammed Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi from the NC, BJP MP Jugal Kishore Sharma and Minister of State Jitendra Singh.

All three ‘associate members’ from the NC have so far stayed away from the panel’s meetings citing that the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 is itself sub judice as it is in the Supreme Court of India.

The other two members from the BJP — Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore — have attended the panel’s February meeting. (The Economic Times)