Ahead of the much-publicized meeting of the Delimitation Commission with associate members, differences cropped up among constituents of Peoples' Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) as Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) charged the panel with pursuing BJP's agenda.

The National Conference, the biggest constituent of the five-party-conglomeration, has already announced to attend Delimitation Commission's scheduled meeting on December 20.

"As far as Delimitation Commission is concerned, its BJP's Commission. The panel is working on a hidden agenda to disempower the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We don't have any faith in this Commission," Mehbooba told media after addressing a youth convention at the border district of Rajouri on Saturday.

When asked about the decision of the National Conference to participate in the scheduled meeting of the panel on December 20, Mehbooba replied, "it is own decision of the NC leadership. I can not comment on their decision."

Mehbooba Mufti
Mehbooba MuftiIANS

The PDP had earlier boycotted the visit of the panel in J&K. Unlike representatives of other political parties which met the panel, PDP had written a letter and termed the whole exercise as "pre-planned."

Announcing its decision not to meet the Delimitation Commission, PDP described the whole exercise as "pre-planned" in favor of a particular party and "aimed to further hurt the interests of people of J&K."

NC confirms participation in Delimitation Commission's meeting

Ending the suspense, National Conference on Saturday confirmed that all three Lok Sabha members of the party - who are associate members of the panel, would attend Delimitation Commission's meeting on December 20.

NC Lok Sabha member from Anantnag, Hasnain Masoodi on Saturday said that their party will attend the Delimitation Commission's associate members meeting in New Delhi.

"After receiving an invitation from the panel, the party has decided o attend the meeting to brief the Commission about the viewpoint of the NC," he said.

This would be NC's first participation in the Delimitation Commission's meet as earlier it turned down the invitation from the panel, saying that they would not attend the meeting as the delimitation exercise was being conducted under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, whose legality is under challenge.

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Panel extends invitations to all associate members for December 20 meeting

The Delimitation Commission, headed by Justice (Retd.) Ranjana Prakash Desai, has extended a formal invitation to all five associate members of the Commission, which includes three Lok Sabha members of the NC and two of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

NC will be represented by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone, and Hasnain Masoodi. Union Minister, Dr. Jatindra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma will represent BJP in the meeting.
It's for the second time that a formal invitation was sent to the NC since the commission was constituted two years ago. So far, the NC has not attended any meeting of the commission.

Commission to redraw parliament, assembly constituencies

The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir was constituted by the Centre on March 6, 2020, to redraw Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of the Union Territory in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which bifurcated the erstwhile state into union territories of J&K and Ladakh.

The elections to the Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be held only after the process of delimitation is completed.

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