Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 1: Former Minister and NPP chairman Harshdev Singh today said that with one of the members of the Delimitation Commission namely, Sushil Chandra having been elevated as the Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC), the fate of delimitation in J&K has once again hung in balance fifteen months after its constitution in February 2020.
“With no substitute having been provided in place of Chandra, who is now the CEC of India, the Delimitation Commission announced with a great fanfare for timely delimitation of Assembly constituencies in J&K by Govt of India has once again proved to be hoax,” NPP leader said in press statement here today.
He pointed out that the Delimitation Commission was announced on February 20, 2020 with three members as per the mandate of law comprised of Retired Justice Ranjana Desai as Chairperson; Sunil Arora, Election Commissioner as a nominee of the ECI and KK Sharma SEC J&K as Ex-officio member. With elevation of then Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra as the CEC of India, the earlier notification of February 20, 2020 extended in March 2021 for one further year was also required to be amended through Presidential notification over the subject. The Govt, however, preferred to remain a mute spectator without clarifying as to the status of the said Commission in the changed scenario which was to originally submit its report within the period specified for the purpose.
Asserting that the BJP Govt at the Centre was averse to not only holding delimitation in J&K but also to elections, Singh said that it wanted to continue its proxy rule in the new UT and retain all powers to itself. He said that the people of J&K were being deprived of their democratic rights of having a duly elected Govt of their choice. The last elections in J&K having been held in 2014, the BJP Govt still seemed dis-inclined to hand over power to the people even after a lapse of several years thus giving a fatal blow to the democratic values enshrined in the Indian constitution.
With the last Assembly having been dissolved in 2018, the elections to legislature were required to be held immediately thereafter in consonance with the rule of law. The BJP regime however, not only defied the democratic norms and procedures but also overlooked the basic law enunciated by the Supreme Court which envisaged holding of “Assembly elections within 6 months in all states where Assemblies were prematurely dissolved”.
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