Farooq Abdullah, the leader of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, is expected to decide on Sunday whether his party would be taking part in the delimitation exercise to be held in the UT, according to a report by news agency PTI. A Delimitation Commission has been tasked to redraw the political map of the erstwhile state by carving out new constituencies.
The members of the commission would be visiting J&K next week and have called for a meeting with leaders of the various political parties in the UT. In order to decide its stance during the visit, the National Conference leaders held an internal meeting on Saturday. According to PTI, inputs were given by all party leaders over participation in the delimitation exercise and party president Farooq Abdullah has been given the authority to make a final decision.
The meeting on Saturday was reportedly held at the party’s headquarters in Srinagar and was chaired by Ali Mohammad Sagar.
The Delimitation Commission was formed in March 2020 and is headed by former SC judge Ranjana Desai. Other members of the commission include Election Commission head Sushil Chandra and the election commissioners of J&K and three other states.
Delimitation of constituencies is understood to be the first step towards normalising political activity in J&K. In a first for J&K, the commission will also be deciding on the seats which would be reserved for those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The issue of delimitation was also a matter of discussion at PM Modi’s meeting with the political leaders of J&K on June 24, where the prime minister asked for support from all leaders for the delimitation process.