Will not participate in delimitation process: NC

SRINAGAR, May 29: The National Conference today said it will not participate in the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir, a day after three party MPs including its president Farooq Abdullah were nominated to the delimitation commission set up by the Centre to assist the panel in redrawing parliamentary and assembly constituencies in the newly-created union territory.
“The @JKNC_ will not participate in the delimitation exercise,” NC chief spokesperson Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said on Twitter.
In a statement NC said “Participating in this delimitation commission will be tantamount to accepting the events of 5th Aug 2019.”
“With reference to the recently announced Delimitation Commission announced by government of India, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference today rejects this process and its three members of the parliament will not participate in the said commission,” reads the statement.
The party further said, “This delimitation commission is a product of the J&K Re-organization Act 2019 which JKNC is challenging in and outside Hon’ble SC. Participating in this Delimitation Commission will be tantamount to accepting the events of 5th Aug 2019 which the NC is unwilling to do.”
The party reminded the BJP that it had also voted for an amendment made in the J&K Constitution in 2002 to freeze delimitation exercise till first census after 2026- that is at least not before 2031.“According to the constitution of J&K, the constituencies of J&K were to be delimited in 2026 with rest of the country.
The constituencies in the state were last delimited in the ‘90s. Thereafter, an amendment was made in the constitution of J&K unanimously passed in the state assembly in which all the regional parties, Congress and BJP voted for this amendment to go with the delimitation with rest of the country in 2026. Therefore, the constitution of the delimitation commission is unwarranted,” the statement added.
It is worthwhile to mention here that it was Farooq Abdullah-led NC government which amended the J&K constitution to freeze delimitation at least till 2031. The J&K legislature had amended the constitution after the Parliament made a similar amendment in the Constitution of India to freeze delimitation of parliamentary segments till 203.
All five Lok Sabha MPs from Jammu and Kashmir — three from the NC and two from the BJP — have been nominated as “associate members” of the Delimitation Commission to assist the panel in redrawing parliamentary and assembly constituencies in the newly-created union territory.
On May 26, the Lok Sabha Speaker nominated the members on the panel from the two parties.
Abdullah, who represents Srinagar in the Lok Sabha, was released from over seven months of detention in March. His colleagues, Anantnag MP Hasnain Masoodi and Baramulla MP Akbar Lone, are the other two NC leaders on the panel.
Union minister and Udhampur MP Jitendra Singh and Jammu-Poonch MP Jugal Kishore Sharma are the two BJP leaders on the panel.