Political activity has picked up in Jammu Kashmir after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s all-party meeting with the leaders of the region.
A commission set up by the Modi-led Government is talking to regional parties relating to the delimitation process in Jammu Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Jammu province has opposed to the use of 2011 census data to reconstruct the constituencies.
The delegation of BJP, who showed up to give a presentation before the commission, has said that the voter list should be considered in the delimitation exercise. The BJP claims that the 2011 census data was rigged.
Not only the provincial unit of BJP, but other parties in Jammu province have already objected to the use of 2011 census for delimitation.
According to the census, the total population of Jammu Kashmir is 1.22 crore. Of these, 68.88 lakh are in Kashmir province and 53.78 lakh in Jammu. Parties in Jammu say that these figures have been changed in favor of Kashmir.
Between 2001 and 2011, the population in Kashmir has increased by 26 percent, while in Jammu this figure is 21 percent.
According to the data presented by the government in Parliament in 2019, there is very little difference between voters in both the provinces.
The electorate in Jammu is 37.33 lakh, while in Kashmir there are 40.10 lakh voters. The last delimitation exercise took place in 1995 in Jammu and Kashmir.
The first argument defied by the 2011 Census is that after the rise of militancy in 1990, there was a massive exodus of Pandits and Sikhs from the Valley. Despite this, how did the population of Jammu grow slower than Kashmir from the 2001 population?
Jammu Kashmir will be the only state or union territory in the country, whose delimitation exercise is being carried out on the basis of 2011 census.
Last time, the delimitation of states and union territories was carried out on the basis of 2001 census.
The National Conference, which appeared before the Delimitation Commission in Srinagar, said that preferably the delimitation should be done after restoration of statehood.
During this, the party raised questions as to what will happen in 2026, when the entire country will go through a phase of delimitation on the basis of the 2021 census.
The PDP has also opposed this panel and the CPM has said that the 2011 census should be used for the current delimitation process.
According to the reports, former minister Sunil Sharma said, “I had opposed the use of the 2011 Census because of data manipulation.”
“Since the voter list is updated every year, the population ratio should be ascertained on the basis of that,” he said.
The BJP delegation from Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts, led by Sharma, had put forward their demand before the panel.
It is notable that a separate team led by the Union Territory’s party chief Ravindra Raina had met the panel.
He said that in the earlier delimitation, a unilateral decision was taken in favor of one area. The delegation has advised using Aadhaar data to check the figures of increased population.
In the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019 prepared by the government, it has been decided to do the delimitation exercise on the basis of the 2011 census.