'SC verdict on JK delimitation immaterial; rejected process at outset'

Bijbehara (JK): PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said the Supreme Court dismissing the petition challenging the delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir was immaterial when legal challenges to abrogation of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act were pending before the apex court.

“We have rejected the delimitation commission from the outset. It does not matter to us what the verdict is,” Mehbooba told reporters here, 41 km from Srinagar.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging the government's decision to constitute the delimitation commission for redrawing the legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir.

The former chief minister questioned the SC delivering the verdict on the delimitation petition when other pleas were still pending consideration.

“The challenge to the Reorganisation Act (under which the delimitation process was carried out) is pending, challenge to abrogation of Article 370 is pending before the SC. If all that is pending, how can they (the SC) give verdict on this petition?” she asked.

Mehbooba charged that delimitation was a “tactical process of rigging before the elections. That's what they have done, converting the majority into a minority, in favour of the BJP. We have not even participated in the discussions of the delimitation commission.” Asked if she still had faith in the judiciary, Mehbooba said the courts were the last hope and resort of anyone in the country.

“As far as the judiciary is concerned, where will a poor person go? Even (Chief) Justice D Y Chandrachud has said that lower courts are scared of giving bail. If a court is scared of giving bail, how would they deliver (fair) verdicts?” she said.

“There was a time when a verdict from the court unseated then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Today, people don’t even get bail from the courts,” she added.