2 Jammu MPs attend delimitation panel meet, 3 Valley MPs boycott meet

New Delhi: Two associate members from Jammu and Kashmir told the Delimitation Commission on Thursday that special attention be given to the difficult terrain while carrying out the delimitation exercise in Jammu & Kashmir.
The commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, met here to seek suggestions from the associate members on the process of delimitation of Jammu and Kashmir.The Lok Sabha speaker had last year named Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Hasnain Masoodi, Jugal Kishore Sharma and Union minister Jitendra Singh as the panel’s associate members from Jammu and Kashmir. Associate members are lawmakers from their respective states who assist the delimitation panel in redrawing parliamentary and assembly constituencies.
An official statement said while the commission had given written intimation to all five associated members on February 5, only Singh and Sharma attended Thursday’s meeting. The two associate members suggested that delimitation of constituencies should be, as far as practicable, for geographically compact areas, the statement said. They said while delimiting the constituencies, regard should be given to physical features, the existing boundaries of the administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience. They also suggested to the panel to give special attention to the difficult terrain while carrying out the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir. According to sources, BJP members suggested to the Commission that it should not rely only on population but geographical conditions of Jammu region should be taken into consideration while carrying out the process.
Set up last year, the commission will delimit the constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, and those of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in accordance with the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002. Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra is an ex-officio member of the delimitation panel.