Er J R Aryan
Geography, topography, demography, total area, total number of voters, total population, terrain and inaccessibility of any zone, region province, district or any other area, constitute the basic requisite parameters or determinants to decide the quantum of political representation to be given to the said area or zone interms of the number of political representations called legislators or parliamentarians to be elected from the areas under question to enter into the legislature of a State or a Parliament of a nation for projecting and highlighting the genuine burning issues, problems, demands and difficulties of the people to seek appropriate solutions remedies and redressal there-of for the overall development and welfare of the State.
If the share of the political representation from any region or area is not in conformity with the stipulated norms, nor proportionate to its requirement as per the given parameters on national basis, the very objective or purpose of democracy gets defeated and suffers humiliation so much so that the people of the area reel under a feeling of discrimination, disparity inequality and maltreatment, or on being neglected. Besides, the development of the area or areas under question does come under stagnation and the population suffers a lot in reality for want of adequate representation in the legislature. Imbalance of political representation between different areas or zones regions or districts of a State or Union on the ideology of regionalism, communalism, caste or creed, vote bank politics etc is bound to consume the roots of democracy, to spread inequality, bias, prejudice, communal disharmony etc to ultimately lead to disintegration which is really unfortunate for one and all.
When one peeps into the structural scenario of our legislation here in J&K in respect of political representation of different Zones in the Assembly of the State, one gets totally shocked and upset by the dismal picture to find that a lion’s share of the representatives in the State Assembly happens to be from the Kashmir valley with 46 MLAs from 10 districts from there, and only 4 MLAs from two districts of Ladakh region, meaning 50 MLAs from Kashmir province; while there are only 37 MLAs from Jammu province with 10 districts, although no. of voters from Jammu province is more than that of the Kashmir province. Official statistics as per the Assembly elections 2002 reveal the total No. of voters in Kashmir valley with a land area of 15953 Sq Kms was 2,8,83,955 which means the ratio of population to the representatives for 46 legislators on average is : 62694 voters per MLA or per constituency. Also it conveys that Valley had one Assembly segment for every 346 Sq Km area.
Now, the corresponding statistics of Jammu province presents a different picture:- total no. of voters in Jammu province with a land area of 26293 Sq Kms = 3059986. Jammu has had only 37 legislators till date and this amply speaks that for a population of 82702 voters there is one MLA. It further clarifies that there has been one representative for a ground area of 710 Sq Kms on average basis.
So there has been a glaring discrimination and disparity with Jammu region under two different yard sticks in respect of representation in the Assembly/Legislature of J&K State w.r.t total no. of voters; no. of voters per Assembly segment or per MLA; total no. of representatives of MLAs from the two regions; total area and the ground area per Assembly segment.
It is needless to mention that the political inequality, discrimination and disparity is the mother of all sorts of discriminations in a society or democracy, however much it may claim itself to be secular or democratic. The different parameters or yard sticks used for different zones have established only one thing in respect of those who wanted to harm the democratic set-up and this reveals their sordid aim:- heads we win and tails you lose:- a policy which meant that the drivers seat and the steering wheel must always remain in the hands of only one zone/region what a formula ! Perhaps the first sign of self-rule or self governance or autonomy.
It is well in place to mention that the terrain, topography and geography of mountainous districts of Kishtwar, Doda, Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban and even some parts of Udhampur province/Jammu are identical to that of Ladakh region or that of the hilly areas like Gurez, Tangdhar, Pahalgam, Kupwara or Anantnag etc of Kashmir zones.
Now under the given situation and as per the ground reality with respect to area, population, no. of voters, topography, geography and demography etc and the existing imbalance of representation from various parts of the State, more so when 8 new districts have been created, the time awfully calls for delimitation of constituencies in the State at the earliest. If I talk of my own district namely Kishtwar with a population of over 2.4 lakh and with an area of 7824 Sq Kms which is half of the area of the entire Valley with 10 district, and 1/3rd of the area of Jammu region also with 10 district, there must be four Assembly segments for this district i.e one for each tehsil i.e one for Kishtwar, one for Marwah-Wadwans-Dachhan, one for Chhatroo and one for Padder, as against the existing one only. About half of the voter population of various areas of district Kishtwar such as the entire tehsil Chhatroo upto Sinthan top, and Thakrai, Kuntwara, Kandni, Drabshalla etc have been clubbed with similar areas of district Doda namely parts of Tehsil Thathri, Bunjwa and Bhalessa to create the existing constituency of Inderwal which is a every strange aspect. In reality these areas of the two different districts can form two constituencies of their own, one each in the respective district. On the basis of population, area, topography etc such things have to be rectified in the new delimitation process.
It is fully hoped that the coming Govt. whosoever, with uniform people-loving measure shall come upto the expectations of the neglected regions of both Jammu and Kashmir province by introducing the Delimitation Bill in the Assembly during its 1st session after building the confidence of the people of the State for the noble cause which is to benefit all neglected areas of both the provinces of the State. If it requires only a Cabinet decision then it must be done all at once which is the top most requirement for betterment of the people of the State.
It is also my humble appeal to the people of the Valley and to the leaders of the Valley to come forward to co-operate in the matter for the genuine cause without reservations to enable the Govt to have the Bill passed, as it is in the larger interest of the State, its stability, progress, overall development, fraternity, brother-hood, uniformity, communal harmony, equality , amity and above all unity, to save it from bifurcation, trifurcation or disintegration. Let all of us defeat the nefarious designs of the elements or forces which are at work to mislead and divide the people on communal, regional, religious, caste and other such factor and let us lend full support to the Govt for any right decision or steps it takes for the overall welfare of the State and people. Delimitation of constituencies is not meant to enhance the seats of Jammu province alone but for the Kashmir province too wherever the situation requires as per the ground reality. In Kashmir too there would be some areas having been ignored for due representations in Legislative Assembly which need to be given their right.
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