A delegation of five Panthers Party leaders led by its President Prof.Bhim Singh called on the Delimitation Commission which is visiting Jammu and Kashmir in connection with the delimitation process in J&K (not Ladakh). The Panthers Party delegation included Mr. Harsh Dev Singh, Former Education Minister, Mr. P.K. Ganju, Sr. Vice President, Ms. Anita Thakur, General Secretary, Mohd. Iqbal Chowdhary, Vice President and S. Paramjit Singh Marshal, Provincial President-Panthers Trade Union.The Panthers Party presented a strong memorandum to the Delimitation Commission which included Justice (retd.) Ranjana Prakash Desai, Mr. Sushil Chandra, Chief Election Commissioner and Mr. Chandra Bhushan, Dy. Election Commissioner. The Panthers Party delegation submitted a three page memorandum (attached).Prof.Bhim Singh addressing the Delimitation Commission for J&K regretted that Ladakh region has been ignored and there is no delimitation fixed for Ladakh. He urged the Delimitation Commission to convey the demand on behalf of the Panthers Party that Ladakh should also have an Assembly as there is Assembly for other Union Territories like Puducherry and NCT of Delhi.Urging the Delimitation Commission Prof.Bhim Singh said that the first priority should be to reduce internal and external tension in J&K. Political discrimination must go. He told the Commission that the Parliament has fixed 90 Assembly seats for J&K. He demanded that the Delimitation should distribute the seats on 50:50 basis, that is 45 Assembly seats for Kashmir province and 45 for Jammu province. He also conveyed to the Delimitation Commission that there has been political tension between the two provinces in J&K mainly because of discrimination in the allotment of Assembly seats. He pleaded that the 50:50 formula shall ease the tension between the two regions and people shall be happy. He said that J&K has suffered at the hands of power in Delhi which is evident from the fact there was no delimitation of the Assembly in 1951, 1971 and 1991.He also pleaded that Scheduled Tribes (Gujjars, Bakerwals and Gaddies) should be given reservation as has been provided in the law made by J&K. He also pleaded for the shifting of reserved seats for the Scheduled Castes (SC) as their reserved seats have not been rotated for the past three Assembly elections.Prof.Bhim Singh strongly pleaded that Statehood of J&K should be restored without delay and Assembly elections should be held on the ad-hoc delimitation as is available this time.Mr. Harsh Dev Singh, Chairman-NPP and former Education Minister strongly argued that delimitation should be held at the earliest and the due reservation should be given to the Scheduled Tribes as well as Scheduled Castes. He also pleaded that free and fair elections should be held and the Panthers Party office bearers need to be provided adequate security during political campaigns in J&K.
