Left parties reject Delimitation Commission report, calls it politically motivated

Population should have been the crucial factor in the recommendations, says CPI(M) Polit Bureau.

Published - May 06, 2022 10:32 pm IST - New Delhi

Rejecting the recommendations of the J&K Delimitation Commission, the Left parties called the report politically motivated and called for broader consultations before the recommendations were considered.

“The recommendations of the J&K Delimitation Commission are blatantly unjustified and illogical,” the CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in a statement here. It said the recommendations “are clearly politically motivated aimed at changing the demographic character and composition of J&K”. The party pointed out that the Commission has recommended an increase of six seats in the Jammu region while only one in the Kashmir valley.

“The recommendations of the J&K Delimitation Commission are blatantly unjustified and illogical...are clearly politically motivated, aimed at changing the demographic character and composition of J&K”CPI(M) Polit Bureau

The Commission had considered the 2011 census for delimiting territorial constituencies. According to the census, the population of Kashmir was 68.9 lakh while that of Jammu was 53.8 lakh. Population should have been the cardinal parameter in the delimitation process, the party said. “The Commission has recommended 47 seats for Kashmir and 43 for Jammu. A fair delimitation, based on population, should have given 51 seats to Kashmir and 39 to Jammu. With 44 per cent of the population, Jammu will have 48 per cent of seats while Kashmir, with 56 per cent of population, will have only 52 per cent of the seats,” it further added.

CPI general secretary D Raja said that before the government proceeded with the Commission's recommendations, it must consult all political stakeholders in J&K. “The Commission's recommendations clearly show that it is aimed at furthering the political agenda of the ruling party. The first step towards this end was to divide J&K and scale it down to Union Territories,” he said. The Prime Minister had held a meeting of all political parties in June 2021 but had not done any follow-up since, Mr. Raja said. He urged the government to call another meeting to discuss the delimitation report.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.