Srinagar, Dec 20: Jammu and Kashmir’s top mainstream leaders including Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Sajad Gani Lone have termed the recommendations made by the delimitation commission as unacceptable.

In a tweet, former Chief Minister and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah said “it is deeply disappointing that the commission appears to have allowed the political agenda of the BJP to dictate its recommendations rather than the data.

“The draft recommendation of the J&K delimitation commission is unacceptable. The distribution of newly created assembly constituencies with 6 going to Jammu & only 1 to Kashmir is not justified by the data of the 2011,” Omar tweeted.

Former CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the commission has been created simply to serve BJPs political interests by dividing people along religious & regional lines.

“My apprehensions about the Delimitation Commission werent misplaced. They want to pitch people against each other by ignoring the population census & proposing 6 seats for one region & only one for Kashmir,” she tweeted.

Peoples Conference Chief Sajad Gani Lone said the proposal reeks of a bias and is shock for those who believe in democracy.

“The recommendations of the delimitation commission are totally unacceptable. They reek of bias. What a shock for those who believe in democracy,” Lone tweeted.

Draft recommendation of Delimitation Commission divisive, unacceptable: Tarigami

CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami Monday said it is another step to further dis-empower Kashmiris politically.

Tarigami in a statement said that the distribution of newly created assembly constituencies with six going to Jammu and only one to Kashmir is not justified and it will increase gaps between regions and communities.

“The constitution of Delimitation Commission under J&K Reorganisation Act-2019 in itself is questionable as the Reorganisation Act has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The constitution of Delimitation Commission was akin to contempt of the court as how can the government of India do so when the matter is sub-judice.”

He said that the CPI (M) had recently moved an application in the Apex Court for early hearing of the writ petition filed in 2019 against unconstitutional and undemocratic revocation of special status of J&K under Article 370 and J&K Reorganisation Act-2019.

“We had apprised the Apex Court that despite the matter being sub-judice, the government of India was taking irreversible steps which were harmful for the interests of people of J&K. We will continue our legal and political fight against the arbitrary, unconstitutional and undemocratic decisions of the BJP government,” he said.

Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party President, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari termed the proposal of Delimitation Commission not in sync with the census 2011, thus totally unacceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Referring to the media reports on the Delimitation Commission’s proposal, the Party President, as per a statement  regretted that the commission has bypassed the merits and demands of people’s representation in its report thereby corroborating to the concerns and apprehensions of the people.

“The current proposal stands in total contrast to the process and guidelines mandated by the laws governing delimitation in the country. The district areas and their respective population numbers were to be taken into consideration as per the census of 2011 which for some unknown reason is missing from the said report,” he said adding, not only the population criteria has been ignored but it seems that the commission has done away with the representational requirements of the existing administrative units.

Bukhari urged the government of India to intervene in the matter and ensure that the Commission revisits its report and takes the merit into consideration.

“The report of the Delimitation Commission in its present form is unacceptable and Apni Party appeals the Government of India to take serious cognizance of this matter so that the concerns of discrimination among the people alleviated before the Commission’s report takes a final shape,” he said.