How could areas having constitutionally more MLCs be given lesser MLAs by a Delimitation Commission?
DAYA SAGAR
Briefly take on the history of J&K Legislature & related events it is worth mentioning here that for Constituent Assembly of J&K State as per the orders of the then Regent of J&K adhoc delimitation was done in 1951 @40000 population per/ seat (with census-1941 as reference allocating 43 seats over Kashmir Region and just 30* seats over Jammu Region (excluding **POJK i.e Mirpur & Muzaffarabad Districts, small part of Poonch Jagir ; Gilgit / frontier Illakas of Skardu, etc ) where in it was **wrong to assume population of Jammu Region as just **12,00,000 as against *17,20,000 for Kashmir region (as per Administrative report (16-10-1940 to 15-101941) of the Government of J&K i. population of Jammu Province 20,01,557, Kashmir region17,28,686 and that of Gilgit / frontier Illakas of Skardu, Kargil & Ladakh was 3,11,915)
The Constituent Assembly of ‘J&K” met for the first time in Srinagar on October 31, 1951 with Maullana Masoodi in Chair and the J&K Constitution was adopted and enacted on 17th Nov 1956 where as 26 Jan+ 1957was referred to in the Constitution as the commencement of this Constitution. A very salient feature of J&K Constitution was that the number of elected MLCs ( Members in Legislative Council ) was fixed permanently region wise I,e 12 elected MLCs for Kashmir Valley, 14 Elected MLCs from Jammu region (at least one resident of the then Doda District and at least one a resident of then Poonch District) & 2 MLCs from Ladakh region ( one resident of the then Tehsil Ladakh and at one resident of then Tehsil Kargil ) where as the number ( 75) of elected MLAs ( member legislative Assembly) was not region wise and was to be located/ relocated after every 10 yr population census and for that J&K Representation of the People Act 1957 was enacted with guidelines for the Delimitation Commission to locate the MLAs when ever appointed.
But so strangely no any regular delimitation for MLAs ( Member Legislative Assembly) was done after 1957 except which was done & ordered by the only one regular Delimitation Commission ( first appointed in 1981 under SRO No; 537 of 02-12-1981 with Justice J.N Wazir as the 1st Chairman and Justice K. K. Gupta was the last Chairman who issued the order after 14 yrs in 1995 ) on 27 April 1995 but that too was not true to the requirements of the J&K Representation of the People Act 1957 since that also distributed 46 MLAs over Kashmir Valley, only 37 ( out of 87) over Jammu Division and 4 over Ladakh region where as the rightful distribution would have been some thing otherwise i.e more numbers outside Valley over Jammu region. To be brief for idea sake & to support the opinion made here let us have a look at Section- 50 of the then J&K Constitution which constitutionally provided 14 Elected MLCs ( Member Legislative Council) for Jammu Division and only 12 elected MLCs for Kashmir Valley. Similarly in earlier times ( before 1979) Kashmir Valley had only 3 District administrative units & Jammu division had 6 Districts which too indicated that the parameters laid for distribution ( Delimitation) of MLA after every population census would in terms of J&K Representation of the People Act 1957 { Section- 4, Sub Section -2 Clause -a ( i ): Population Clause- a (ii ) : Geographical Compactness Clause – a ( iii) :Nature of terrain Clause – a ( iv) : Facilities of Communication Clause – a ( v) : And the like considerations} taken in consideration would surely provide more MLAs outside Kashmir Valley I,e in fairness more MLAs over Jammu Division. Unfair distribution had continued after 1957 and even after 1995 since after that even delimitation had been constitutionally deferred …
After J&K state was converted to UT of J&K with a Legislative Assembly of 90 active members ( MLAs) wef 31-10-2019 and channels were opened for delimitation of the Assembly Segments under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019, Act 34 of Parliament of India hopes were set that atleast thereafter the 90 MLAs would be distributed adequately in UT Legislative Assembly. The Delimitation Commission appointed in 2000 did make some changes in proportions but there too in its order J&K/282.2022 (Voll IV) dated 05-05-2022 the balance was still kept towards Valley (47 MLAs Valley 43 MLAs outside valley ) . No doubt tilting the balance to other side would have been a challenging task for someone to take since numbers that were 46 out of 83 would have to be reduced below 45 even out of 90. May be the Delimitation Commission too was not presented proper data and related facts regarding facial features like geographical & physical parameters, the fact that district administrative units before 1979 would give the real picture, areas outside Kashmir Valley had constitutionally more elected MLCs etc worth taking to detailed critical study. Anyhow still there could be opportunity to appoint new delimitation commission after the data of census results already overdue after 2021 are made public and the new popular government after September 2024 elections can feed the new Delimitation Commission with proper data for making corrections worth providing due voice in the Legislative Assembly to the people placed in distance and backward areas of UT of J&K..
But as regards reorganization of Districts that could be done atleast now immediately in 2024.
(The author Sr Journalist and social activist & analyst J&K affairs)