Conduct delimitation exercise in time-bound manner: J-K Cong

The Congress Wednesday batted for holding the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir and said the process should be completed in shortest possible time.

The party's reaction came after reports claimed that the Centre was toying with the idea of constituting a delimitation commission to redraw the scope and size of the assembly segments and determine the number of seats to be reserved for Scheduled Castes.

"Party favours early delimitation in a time-bound manner and completion of the process before the conduct of assembly elections in the state," JKPCC chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said here.

He said the delimitation exercise should be conducted in accordance with the Constitution and norms & procedure prescribed under the law taking into account various parameters of population, area, terrain, topography and other such considerations in order to ensure complete justice with each and every area.

"Since the BJP government at the Centre has absolute majority and the state is under President's rule, let them initiate the process immediately and complete it before the assembly polls", he said.

However, the Congress doubted the intention of the BJP in view of the forthcoming assembly polls in the state and said this should not be another political stunt by the saffron party.

On Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was given a detailed presentation on the situation in the state, where the BJP has been pushing for carrying out a delimitation exercise for getting more seats for Jammu region in the state assembly.