Now go for election
The delimitation commission has finalized its delimitation order and has reserved nine seats for the ST’s. It has also ensured that all the five parliamentary seats of the UT have equal number of assembly constituencies and has increased six assembly seats in Jammu and one in Kashmir division thus taking the total number of seats to 90 (43, Jammu; 47, Kashmir). The delimitation commission has recommended additional seats in assembly for Kashmiri Pandit migrants and displaced persons from Pakistan administered Jammu and Kashmir. The commission has renamed some constituencies and rearranged the areas in some of the segments but has ensured that the lowest administrative unit, Patwar Circle is not broken.
The decisions made by the delimitation commission are going to attract carrying reactions from different political parties particularly the ones majorly based in Kashmir Valley. Some of the political parties have even challenged the very formation of the commission saying that as these parties have already challenged the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act and the formation of the commission falls under this act, so they don’t recognize it as a genuine exercise. However, main political party National Conference, which challenged the legitimacy of the commission, was the part of the exercise. Whatever, the reactions the report may receive, fact of the matter is that whatever the order has been passed by the commission is going to stand may be with little bit changes here and there. The main question, however, remains, after delimitation exercise is complete, now what?
The government of India has been asserting that once the delimitation process is complete, elections will be held in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. Now the ball lies in its court. Jammu and Kashmir needs a democratic set-up and people need to be given the chance to exercise their democratic right to choose their representatives. A bureaucratic government, no matter how efficient it may be, can never ever be a replacement of democratically elected government. India is the largest democracy of the world and it can’t afford to deny the people of Jammu and Kashmir right to elect their own representatives. Now that the delimitation process is complete, there should be no further delay in holding elections here. In fact it is now overdue and the UT can’t be left to be governed by bureaucrats for eternity.
Like other parts of the country, the people of Jammu and Kashmir too aspire and deserve to be partners in their own governance. That Panchayat, BDC and DDC elections can’t be used as an excuse to further delay the assembly elections. It is high time that the government of India gives a goo ahead to the Elections Commission to gear up for assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir so that peoples’ basic democratic rights are restored.
