Owais Gul
Srinagar, Dec 11: Amid resumption of political activities in Jammu & Kashmir, all eyes are now on the crucial meeting of the delimitation commission with five members of parliament from the Union Territory on December 20 at New Delhi.
The delimitation commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (retd.) Ranjana Desai has invited all five Lok Sabha MPs from Jammu & Kashmir for a meeting scheduled on December 20 at Hotel Ashoka, where from the commission is functioning.
While BJP MPs Jitender Singh and Jugal Kishore would attend the meeting, National Conference is still indecisive over its participation in the proceedings. Its MPs had boycotted the meeting held by the commission with associate members on February 18, saying the exercise is outcome of the Reorganization Act, which it had challenged in the Supreme Court.
While the commission has not spelled out agenda of the meeting, it is widely believed it could either discuss contours of the process with the associate members or could share draft report with them for their comments.
The meeting gains significance as New Delhi as has repeatedly maintained that elections would be held only after delimitation commission finalizes its report.
National Conference Member Parliament, Anantnag, Justice (retd.) Hasnain Masood said the party has not yet decided about its participation in the meeting.
“We have not decided anything about attending the meeting. We will hopefully take a call in this regard tomorrow morning,” he said.
Masoodi said they are unaware about proceedings of the panel. “We are unaware about happenings and events taking place in this exercise. We have received the invitation, but we don’t know what has to be discussed as nothing has been shared with us so far. We don’t know what is going to happen, what is to be shaped up and what is to be discussed. The only thing is that we have been invited,” he said.
Masoodi added that the NC MPs like other associate members have no role to disagree with any decision or viewpoint of the commission. “Our role is confined to sharing viewpoints only. So far, we have no knowledge about the viewpoints shared by the associate members from Jammu,” he said.
