Srinagar, July 06:(KNS)  A delegation of Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party led by its Senior Vice President Ghulam Hassan Mir on Tuesday evening met with the Delimitation Commission members at Srinagar.

Besides Party's Senior Vice President, the delegation comprised of Vice Presidents Zaffar Iqbal Manhas & Usman Majid, General Secretary Rafi Ahmad Mir and Provincial President Kashmir Mohammad Ashraf Mir. After holding threadbare discussions on the delimitation exercise, the delegation submitted a memorandum.

The memorandum reads as under:

NOTE FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE DELIMITATION COMMISSION

1. J&k has been under President's rule since its reorganization in August 2019. The constitution of the Delimitation Commission assumes added significance for delimiting the Lok Sabha and Assembly Constituencies for the purpose of holding elections in J&K at an earliest purely the interest of general public.
2. The process of completion of delimitation needs to be expedited at a faster pace so that a political process is restored and eventually elections held for which the people of J & K have been aspiring.
3. The views of all stakeholders need to be accommodated through dialogue and public hearings at district level instead of provincial level.
4. After delimitation the effective strength of J&K assembly seats will be 90 instead of existing 83 thereby increasing the number by further 07 assembly segments. The distribution of the seats shall be as mandated by the Constitution.
5. Population being the criteria for delimiting the assembly constituencies, the districts on the basis of laid down criteria need to be identified which qualify for additional assembly segments. The assembly seats for those of districts may remain intact which do not qualify for any additional assembly constituency.
6. The administrative units i.e  districts are to be considered as basic units for redrawing the assembly constituencies. Except where there are certain compulsions and constraints within the district in local administrative units, the rule can be relaxed
7. There is a population of about 2 lakh Kashmiri pandits who actually belong to Kashmir valley but presently are residing outside mostly in Jammu. This population has been covered under census 2011 for Jammu province but using their right to vote in Kashmir valley. This chunk of population needs to be accounted for in the Kashmir valley while redrawing the assembly constituencies.
8. There are 02 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Jammu Province and 03 in Kashmir Province. The number of seats for each of the Provinces may remain intact. (KNS)

Regards

Ghulam Hassan Mir

Senior Vice President

Jammu & Kashmir Apni Party