A day after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had nominated the Associate Members of Delimitation Commission for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, one of the leading mainstream political party in Kashmir valley, National Conference on Friday rejected the entire process saying that the party’s three members of Parliament will not participate in it.
MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh and Members of Parliament, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Hasnain Masoodi and Jugal Kishore Sharma were nominated as associate members of Thursday by the Lok Sabha Speaker.
In a statement, the NC, spokesman said: “With reference to the recently announced Delimitation Commission announced by the Government of India, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference today rejects this process and its three members of Parliament will not participate in the said commission.”
The party added: “This delimitation commission is a product of the J&K Re-organisation Act 2019, which the JKNC is challenging in and outside the Supreme Court. Participating in this delimitation Commission will be tantamount to accepting the events of 5th August 2019, which the NC is unwilling to do.”
“According to the Constitution of J&K, the constituencies of J&K were to be delimited in 2026 with the rest of the country. The constituencies in the State were last delimited in the ’90s. Thereafter, an amendment was made in the constitution of J&K unanimously passed in the State Assembly in which all the regional parties, Congress and BJP voted for this amendment to go with the delimitation with rest of the country in 2026. Therefore, the Constitution of the delimitation commission is unwarranted,” the statement added.
The commission has been constituted to delimit the constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019.
According to section 60 of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be increased from 107 to 114.
