DSS demands Delimitation on basis of 2021 census

 Pitches for 49 Constituencies for Jammu Province and appeals Jammuties to come on one platform

Jammu: The Dogra Sadar Sabha has termed the census of 2011 census as fudged, which cannot be relied upon for a fair and just Delimitation of constituencies. Disclosing this in a press conference held here today on 09-07-2020, Th. Gulchain Singh Charak, former Minister and President Dogra Sadar Sabha, said the Commission has been requested to consider basing its findings on the census of 2021 which is presently under way.He said that it was a matter of satisfaction that a large number of groups and individuals were seen to have come to meet the Delimitation Commission at Jammu which is an indicator of the awareness amongst the people of this province that their woes are largely due to the manupilations in successive census reports and the unfair share of seats allocated in earlier delimitation exercises for the erstwhile State Assembly. He said that it is time for all Jammuiets to come on a single platform and pool our thinking while voiinge such issues, so the combined will of Jammu has an impact.

Sh Charak, said that it was unfortunate that the Commission had deemed it proper to fix 8.30 pm as the single time of appointment with representatives of dozens of organisations as well as individuals resulting in a pelmel at the venue of the meeting. He pointed out that the unregulated rush at the venue resulted in situation where the SOP’s could not be maintained by the organisers, putting the various deputationists and individuals to a serious  risk in these times of the pandemic. He said that separate time of appointment should have been given to each entity for a meeting with the Commission for ensuring their protection and for enabling meaningful deliberations and feedback.Dwelling upon the memorandum submitted by DSS, Sh Charak said that the Commission was appraised that discrimination against Jammu Province was built into the very initiation of the delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir when, just after accession in 1947, the census of 1941 was thrown to the winds and 30 seats were arbitrarily allotted to Jammu against 43 seats carved out for Kashmir.

He said that under successive Kashmir centric Governments the census continued to be manipulated and the delimitation commissions constituted from time to time by the State Governments were pressurized to perpetuate the unfair disadvantage to Jammu as a result of which Jammu still has only 37 seats, while Kashmir has 46, Kashmir. This amounts to 24% more seats for Kashmir province, though, during the 2019 elections, there were actually only 7.42% more voters in Kashmir over those in Jammu province.

Sh Charak pointed out that during the State Assembly Elections in 2002, the total voters in Jammu province were 31,06,280 while in Kashmir province the total voters were 28,84,852, i.e. Jammu had had 2,21,428 or 7.67% more voters but, in the same year, the State Assembly amended Section 47 (3) of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and froze the number of seats in the State Legislative Assembly till after the census to be conducted in 2031. .Further, he said that the mismatch between the %age difference between the population of Jammu province and Kashmir province as per the 2011 census (28%)  vis-a-vis the %age difference between the number of voters in the two divisions during consecutive elections of 2014 (7.39%) and 2019 (7.42%), further proves that the 2011 census figures are concocted.

He disclosed that the Delimitation Commission was further appraised that while the average growth of population in Jammu province was 31% between 1971 to 2001, its growth rate has been shown to have suddenly dipped to 21% between 2001 to 2011(as per the 2011 census) though, during this period a substantial population migrated from Kashmir to Jammu on account of escalating terrorist activities in the Valley.

On the other hand, despite migration of over 3 lakh inhabitants within and outside the State the percentage growth in Kashmir’s population should have been lower but it is shown to have grown by 26 per cent post 1991and an extraordinarily steep jump of 14,11,000 persons has been shown in the population of Kashmir between 2001 to 2011, as per the 2011 census

He said that it was emphasised that since the figures of 2011 census cannot be relied upon for a fair and just Delimitation of constituencies and, therefore, the Commission should base its findings on the census of 2021 which is presently under way. In the meanwhile it was strongly recommended that 49 constituencies may be considered for Jammu Province based on the following categorizing ; Category A (remote mountainous sub-regions) Jammu, which is spread over 26,293 sq kms against Kashmir valley’s 15,948 sq kms, has vast tracts of areas with extremely difficult terrain lacking communication facilities and conveniences for the public. These include several large sub-regions amongst the mountainous areas of Jammu which are, by and large, disconnected from other regions by the mountainous terrain and where the inhabitants have unique sets of problems and need to be given representation in the Assembly, instead of being treated as remote appendages of other better placed sub regions. Such sub regions should be considered under this category on the analogy of the existing Gurez & Karnah constituencies having population of 37992 and 60129 persons respectively. Accordingly, the creation of the following 7 constituencies has been recommended.Constituency           District            Population (2011)Atholi (Padder) Kishtwar         40,737,Marwah           Kishtwar         35572, ThathriDoda/Kishtwar 1,00,769, Ukhral Pogal Paristhan     Ramban           45623, Khari Mohu Mangat Ramban26,645, Pancheri-Moungri     Udhampur/Reasi       47039, Pouni-Thakrakote      Reasi   57073.The Capital Cities of Jammu and Srinagar are similar, being well developed with all necessary communication facilities and public convenience, but the constituencies in Jammu district, have, on an average 16,300 or 20%, more than the average number of voters in a constituency in Srinagar District. To remove this discrepancy it has been recommended that the number of voters in the constituencies in Jammu District be rationalize in the following manner;Bifurcating Gandhinagar Constituency which has 1,73,719 voters (ECI: 2019 elections) to create a new constituency by also adding some portions of the adjoining Vijaypur and Bishnah constituencies;Bifurcating Jammu West Constituency which has 154134 voters (ECI: 2019 elections) and creating  a new constituency by adding some portion of the adjoining Raipur Domana Constituency;

Category C  ( Other areas)Most of the Constituencies of Kashmir valley have been carved out in Districts comprising plain areas, which are well connected by a network of roads, and have all the necessary communication facilities and conveniences for the public. As per 2019 election, the average number of voters in the largely plain Districts of was 91066 per Constituency.  Against this the average number of voters in the mountainous Districts of Jammu was 102111 per Constituency including some Constituencies like Ramnagar and Rajouri having 1.24 lacs and 1.23 lacs voters respectively. It is recommended that a minimum of 0.85 lac voters may be fixed for the Constituencies in the mountainous areas of Jammu province and the following new Constituencies have been recommended for the Kandi/mountainous areas of Jammu Province:-

Constituency comprising of Tehsil Dinga Amb in District Kathua along with adjoining areas of Billawar and Basohli constituencies in Barnoti Hiranagar and Kathua tehsils.Constituency comprising Majalta Tehsil in District Udhampur including the far flung and inaccessible areas of Ghar Samna Banj of Ramnagar Constituency.Constituency comprising Sunderbani Tehsil of Rajouri District and some areas of the existing Kalakote and Nowshera Constituencies.

Category D ( POJK Constituencies )A large number of refugees from POJK who migrated to Jammu in 1947 have also now got the voting rights post abrogation of Article 370.  It has been recommended that they may be provided representation in the Assembly by allocating an appropriate number of seats to them proportionate to their population  out of the 24 seats reserved for POJK areas.Presently the two Parliamentary Constituencies in Jammu are spread over a large area of 26,293 sq Kms of a largely mountainous and rugged terrain  having a total population of 53,78,538 souls. Jammu Constituency has the largest number of voters i.e. 20,47,702 voters and Udhampur has 16,85,816 voters. It has been proposed that a new constituency may be carved out by slicing portions of both existing constituencies thus taking the total number of parliamentary seats in Jammu province to the below three;Jammu          Jammu, Rajouri, Poonch 18,34,078,Udhampur          Samba, Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban    10,11,471, Kathua        Kathua, Doda, Kishtwar            8,87,869.Charak further disclosed that it was also brought to the noticeof the Commission that with the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019, a large number of West Pakistan refugees, Balmikis and Gurkhas have also become eligible to vote and, therefore, their population may also be factored in while considering the delimitation of constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. Further, since with the abrogation of Article 370, all Central laws have become applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, it was recommended that the due reservation of constituencies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, including Gujjars, Bakarwals, Gaddis, Sippis and other categories in the Union Territory as per the report submitted by the Socially and Educationally Backward classes Commission may also be considered.