Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said that the proposals by the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission were an attack on the Union Territory’s democracy, The Kashmir Walla reported.
Mufti while talking to mediapersons at the party headquarters in Srinagar city alleged that the commission was running Bharatiya Janata Party’s agendas.
On Sunday, the delimitation commission in its second draft report had proposed to create seven new Assembly segments and the redrawing of the boundaries of some others. Six of the new constituencies are proposed to be in the Jammu, while one is in Kashmir.
Mufti alleged that the BJP was executing the “agenda of Nathuram Godse” to “divide Hindu and Muslim community” in the Union Territory, according to The Kashmir Walla. Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.
“Nobody is allowed to speak up in Kashmir,” Mufti told the reporters. “Our district president for Ganderbal was arrested just because he spoke against the Delimitation Commission. He was taken to the police station, but was released later.”
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Yousuf Tarigami said the draft proposal recommended a “strange geographical layout” for redrawing the boundaries of several constituencies, The Hindustan Times reported.
“The draft proposal lays bare the utter disregard for the topography and tribal population,” Tarigami said.
The Delimitation Commission proposal
The commission has proposed to redraw the boundaries of five out of eight Assembly constituencies in Srinagar. The Habba Kadal constituency, which has a substantial number of Kashmiri Pandits, will be split into three seats.
The districts of Rajouri and Poonch, which have a Hindu majority, are proposed to be merged with the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, which is dominated by Muslims.
In the Baramulla district, two new constituencies of Kunzer and Tangmarg have been created by splitting the Gulmarg seat and merging the Sangrama seat.
Sangrama and Gulmarg, which the Peoples Democratic Party had won in the 2014 Assembly polls, will cease to exist as constituencies.
With these changes, Jammu and Kashmir will have a total of 90 Assembly seats. The number of seats in the Jammu region will increase from 37 to 43, while in the Kashmir region they will increase from 46 to 47. Another 24 seats will be reserved for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The commission has also proposed to reserve nine seats for Scheduled Tribes, for the first time and seven for the Scheduled Castes.
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