Srinagar

The Delimitation Commission headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desaithat begins its 4-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. On the first leg of its visit the commission is going to Srinagar where it seeks to meet representatives of political parties, government offices etc. in order to complete the delimitation process of Assembly and Lok Sabha seats for elections to be held in the Union territory.

The only political party that is yet to take a stand on ending the boycott of the Commission remains Peoples’ Democratic Party headed by Mehbooba Mufti. The National Conference headed by Farooq Abdullah has decided to be part of the Commission’s proceedings.

All the three members of the commission including Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra Sharma and State Election Commissioner (SEC) K.K.Sharma, will reach Srinagar today.

It will be the commission’s first visit to Kashmir, where most of the political leaders had boycotted its proceedings

The commission will meet political leaders in Jammu on July 8. It will have detailed interaction with deputy commissioners of Kashmir division at Pahalgam and Srinagar on July 7 and those of Jammu division at Kishtwar and Jammu on July 8 and 9.

Since the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) was not able to take a joint stand on meeting the commission or otherwise, it was decided that since the invitation from the commission was to individual parties, each constituent of PAGD would take its own decision.

The National Conference (NC) has decided to meet the commission and its leaders Abdul Rahim Rather and Devender Rana will head the delegation of the party which will call on the commission in Srinagar and Jammu respectively.

The NC delegation in Srinagar will be led by Abdul Rahim Rather, senior party leader and it will comprise Mian Altaf, Mohammad Shafi Uri, Sakina Itoo and Nasir Aslam Wani.

NC delegation in Jammu will be headed by provincial president, Devender Rana and will include Surjit Singh Slathia, Ajay Sadhotra, Sajjad Kitchloo and Javed Rana.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headed by Mehbooba Mufti has so far not announced its decision on whether it will meet the commission or not.

The Congress delegation meeting the commission comprises G.A. Mir, Peerzada Sayeed, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Bashir Ahmad Magray, Surinder Channi and Vinod Koul.

The BJP delegation includes Sofi Yusuf, G.M. Mir, Surinder Ambardar and Altaf Thakur.

Other political parties including Nationalist Panther Party (NPP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), People's Conference (PC) and Jammu Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) have already announced that they will be meeting the commission.