Srinagar, July 01, 2021 (PPI-OT):As Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is eager to bring demographic changes to the electoral map of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the Delimitation Commission has decided to visit the occupied territory for a four-day trip starting July 06 to spur up the process. The decision on the visit was taken during a meeting of the Commission chaired by its chairperson, Justice (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra in New Delhi.
Analysts and experts say that delimitation is a product of the act by which the Article 370 was scrapped therefore participation in the process by pro-India political parties or any other Kashmiri body gives legitimacy and acceptance to the August 05, 2019 decisions which Kashmiris should be challenging instead of accepting. They say after feeling that voices have started rising in IIIOJK against the delimitation process, the commission has swiftly decided to visit the occupied territory to interact with political parties, public representatives and local authorities of 20 districts of the territory to gather first-hand information and input concerning the on-going process of delimitation as mandated under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019.
But experts also believe that by participating in the delimitation exercise, the political parties of IIOJK should understand that it will definitely be used to alter the demographics of the territory and they can only be spectators of the plans that the BJP wants to implement in the region. And given the apprehensions around these plans, this commission is up for making a demographic change in the electoral map of IIOJK, they say.
The Delimitation Commission was constituted in March 2020 and its term was extended by another year in March 2021 in view of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Third Member of the Commission is the State Election Commissioner of IIOJK. The Commission also has five Associate Members -all members of Indian Parliament from IIOJK.
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