Srinagar, July 27 : The Government of India on Wednesday once again declined to give specific timeframe for restoring the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the same would be granted at an “appropriate time”.
“Yes Sir,” Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, said in a written reply to a question by Rajya Sabha member Elamaram Kareem whether it is a fact that the Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah had stated in Parliament that the Statehood to the Jammu & Kashmir would be restored “if so, by when, and if not, the reasons therefor”.
“Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir would be granted at an appropriate time,” he said in the reply.
Rai also responded in affirmative to another query by the member if the Delimitation Commission’s recommendations in respect of J&K stand notified.
“Delimitation Commission has notified orders on 14th March, 2022 and 5th May, 2022 on delimitation of Parliamentary and Legislative Assembly Constituencies of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Rai also reiterated that the decision to conduct elections in J&K was the prerogative of the Election Commission of India.
Meanwhile responding to a separate query by another member, John Brittas, whether there is widespread resentment regarding the report of the delimitation of assembly constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir, Rai said: “the Government of J&K has intimated that there were “no significant protest against the report of the Delimitation Commission.” However, various political parties have expressed different views on the report”.
“The Delimitation Commission conducted delimitation exercise of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir based on the census data of the year 2011 and the criteria prescribed under section 9(1)(a) of the Delimitation Act, 2002 read with Section 60(2)(b) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019,” he said, adding, “The Commission has also considered the representations for geographical areas having inadequate communication and lack of public conveniences due to their excessive remoteness or inhospitable conditions on the international border.” As against previous number of 37 and 46 Assembly seats for Jammu region and Kashmir region respectively, Rai said, the Delimitation Commission has notified 43 seats for Jammu region and 47 seats for Kashmir region.
