Delimitation exercise must begin in J&K now, says ex-deputy CM Gupta
JAMMU: Former deputy chief minister and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta has endorsed an early exercise for delimitation of assembly constituencies and resumption of a political process that can lead to elections in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
He, however, said that the time was not ‘apt’ to release three former chief ministers—farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who remain under detention since August 4 last year.
Talking to HT, Gupta said following the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year, the situation is peaceful in the UT and it is now time to re-draw assembly constituencies.
“After abrogation of Article 370, the situation has improved now. A political process should begin now. But it has to be preceded by delimitation of constituencies. A new political party has also started taking shape in Kashmir,” he said when asked about the way forward for J&K.
Former Peoples’ Democratic Party leader Syed Altaf Bukhari is in consultation with more than a dozen politicians from Kashmir to form a new political leadership in Jammu and Kashmir.
The former deputy chief minister said delimitation of the constituencies can be done anytime. “The government has all the statistics and resources. The exercise can be held any time… only boundaries have to be re-drawn. Nowadays everything is digital,” he said.
“Fresh elections to the newly carved out UT can be held only after the delimitation exercise. Under J&K Reorganisation Act 2019, we will have a legislative assembly of 114 members, with a tenure of five years. Out of 114 seats, 24 have been kept for Pakistan occupied Kashmir,” he said.
The state has been under the President Rule since December 18, 2018.
This is likely to be extended beyond July 3. In the erstwhile state before August 5, Kashmir had 46 assembly seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh four seats.