Omar Abdullah Flags 'Opaque' Delimitation Amid Poll Body Controversy: 'Designed To Benefit A Party'

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday called for "corrective action" in the Election Commission of India to "safeguard democracy" in light of a news report that two of the commissioners objected to a number of moves within the body led by Gyanesh Kumar.

"Otherwise, nothing will be left once people lose faith in elections," he said.

Abdullah said that before the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) became an issue in the country, Jammu and Kashmir was subjected to an opaque process of delimitation "that was designed to help a political party".

Reacting to The Indian Express report on the functioning of the EC and the poll body's response, Omar Abdullah said that there have been persistent complaints about the way the commission has functioned. "Before SIR became an issue for the rest of the country, for us delimitation was an issue. We believe that the process was opaque, the process was flawed, and the entire process was designed to benefit one political party and its friends," said Abdullah.

After Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its statehood, lost its special status, and was bifurcated into two UTs, a delimitation exercise to redraw the J&K UT's 90 assembly constituencies was carried out. Since population was not the sole criterion to redraw the electoral map, there were allegations of gerrymandering and an attempt to turn J&K's demographic majority, which is Muslim, into a political minority in many areas, even beyond the Hindu-majority Jammu region. The BJP has denied the allegations.

As for the report about objections, the EC has said disagreements are part of the process of making decisions.