Jammu, August 19: With the announcement of the schedule for the much-delayed Assembly elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Gujjars and Bakerwals opposed any move of the ethnic Pahari tribe to stake claim on nine constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs)
“How can ethnic Pahari tribe or other groups, who were granted Scheduled Tribe status after submission of the delimitation commission report stake claim on the Assembly seats reserved for STs”, Anwar Choudhary, convenor of the All J&K Gujjar Bakerwal Coordination Committee told the J&K Newspoint.
“The delimitation commission recommended reservation of nine seats for STs as par 2011 census report”, he said, adding, “census of ethnic Pahari and other groups are yet to be conducted”.
He claimed that these new groups are not eligible to contest elections for the Assembly seats reserved for STs.
The Gujjars and Bakerwals argued that only tribes granted ST status in 1991 are eligible to contest these reserved seats.
He emphasized that only ST groups classified as ST-I are eligible to contest the reserved ST seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.
Anwar referenced the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, passed by the Parliament of India in August 2019, which bifurcated the state into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, extending national laws to Jammu and Kashmir.
Following the Act, a Delimitation Commission was constituted in March 2020, chaired by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai. The Commission’s final report, which came into force on May 20, 2022, reserved nine seats for 12 ST communities declared as ST in 1989 and 1991. The report also added six additional seats to Jammu and Kashmir, bringing the total to 90 seats.
Chowdhary stated that the Commission based its report on the ST population as per the 2011 census conducted by the Registrar General of India in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Nine Assembly Seats Reserved For STs
Surankote.
Mendhar.
Budhal.
Thanamandi.
Rajouri.
Gulabgarh.
Kangan.
Kokarnag.
Gurez.
News castes included in ST list of J&K
In February this year, a historic bill was passed in the Lok Sabha to grant ST status to J&K’s Pahari Ethnic Group, making Paharis the first linguistic group to receive Scheduled Tribe status in the country. With the inclusion of four more communities, there are now 16 tribes in the ST list of J&K.
On February 6, the Lok Sabha passed the “Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Schedule Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023,” which included the “Pahari ethnic group,” “Paddari Tribe,” “Koli,” and “Gadda Brahman” communities in the Scheduled Tribe List of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Chowdhary clarified that under the new provisions, individuals classified under ST-II are not eligible to apply for reserved Assembly seats allocated to ST-I, and vice versa.
