Srinagar, July 06, 2021 (PPI-OT): The Delimitation Commission will arrive in Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) today to meet political parties, district officials and other stakeholders and gather “first-hand information” on the ongoing process of redrawing the boundaries there. The members will begin the four-day visit from Pahalgam, where they will meet officials of the four districts of South Kashmir – Islamabad, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian.

Later in the evening, the delegation will travel to Srinagar where they are scheduled to meet local officials and political leaders. The visit will conclude on July 9. Barring the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), all other major political parties including the National Conference (NC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the CPI (M) and the National Panthers Party (NPP) are indecisive about meeting the commission’s members.

On Monday, the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an alliance of six parties including the NC and the PDP, said no joint decision has been taken on taking part in the proceedings of the commission. The alliance also said that it was up to individual parties to decide whether they want to meet the delegation of the Delimitation Commission or not.

The three-member commission was constituted in March last year by the Centre to carve out new constituencies in the union territory. It is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai (retd). Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra is the representative of the Election Commission in the delimitation panel while State election commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir and the four States are its ex-officio members. Once the delimitation exercise is completed, the number of assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir are expected to go up from 83 to 90.

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