The Delimitation Commission on Jammu & Kashmir entrusted with redrawing the electoral constituencies of the Union Territory notified its final report on Thursday, adding more seats to Jammu that will lead to the region having more say in future government formation.
Six of the seven new constituencies will be part of Jammu, while the remaining one will be added to Kashmir. Nine Assembly constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes for the first time in the history of J&K (six are in Jammu and three in Kashmir). Seven constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Of the 90 constituencies, Jammu will now have 43 seats from the earlier 37 while Kashmir’s tally will rise to 47 seats from the previous figure of 46.
The J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 raised the number of seats in the Assembly from 107 to 114, with 24 seats reserved for India’s territory currently under the illegal occupation of Pakistan.
With the final order out, the UT moves closer to its first Assembly elections.
Kashmir-based political parties such as the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party slammed the report. Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP said the commission had become an extension of the BJP.
The Delimitation Commission has recommended additional seats for nominated members representing the Kashmiri Migrants and those displaced from areas illegally occupied by Pakistan.
A parliamentary constituency has been carved out combining Anantnag in Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu. This has been done to ensure that each of the five parliamentary constituencies has 18 Assembly
seats.
The Delimitation Order for the Union Territory was notified on Thursday, just a day before the extended term of the commission was to end.
The commission headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai had a meeting in New Delhi, where she and its two other ex-officio members – Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and UT’s Election Commissioner K K Sharma – signed the final delimitation
order.
The Election Commission (EC) is now likely to revise the new electoral rolls in accordance with the redrawn constituencies.
The poll panel may take a few months to complete the process. A source in the EC said the commission will hold Assembly polls only after revising the electoral rolls and assessing the security situation in consultation with the local administration as well as the Home
Ministry.
The Centre had on March 6, 2020, constituted the Delimitation Commission to redraw the boundaries of the parliamentary and the assembly constituencies in the UT in accordance with the J&K Reorganisation Act
2019.
Home Minister Amit Shah had recently stated that the Assembly polls in J&K will be held after the delimitation process is over.