Jammu & Kashmir delimitation commission submits report
Jammu & Kashmir delimitation commission: The three-member Delimitation Commission on Jammu and Kashmir, headed by Justice (retd) Ranjana Desai, on Thursday, signed the final order on redrawing the assembly constituencies of the Union Territory, a day before its term was to end, officials said.
For the first time, nine seats have been proposed for Scheduled Tribes.
Talking about the delimitation, CEC Sushil Chandra said, "As per the notification, there are 90 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) & 5 Parliamentary Constituencies- 43 in Jammu & 47 in the Valley. We've ensured that ACs related to a district were confined to that, unlike before when ACs were divided into various districts."
"For 5 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs), Delimitation Commission has ensured that all of them have equal number of Assembly Constituencies. Division is such that each PC has 18 assembly constituencies," Chandra added.
The Delimitation Commission has seen the Jammu & Kashmir region as one single Union Territory. Therefore, one of the Parliamentary Constituency has been carved out combining the Anantnag region in the Valley and the Rajouri & Poonch of the Jammu region.
A copy of this order and the report, detailing the number of constituencies and their size, will be submitted to the government after which the order will be issued through a gazette notification.
The commission has proposed increasing the number of seats in the UT from 83 to 90. Besides, there are 24 seats in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) that continue to remain vacant.
The panel has also proposed six additional seats for Jammu and one for Kashmir. As of now, the Kashmir division has 46 seats and the Jammu division 37. Formed in March 2020, the panel was granted a one-year extension last year. The panel has Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and the state election commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir as its ex-officio members.
Reacting to the report, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said, "What delimitation? One that has become an extension of BJP? That overlooked the basis of population & acted as per their wish. We outrightly reject it. We don't trust it. Its recommendations are a link to abrogation of Article 370 - how to disempower people of J&K. Today 1947-like situation is gradually being formed in the country. It's very dangerous. It's a common nation for all religions, its beauty lies in this brotherhood. If BJP runs it as per their agenda & not as per Constitution, in the time to come nobody would be safe."
End road for NC, PDP?
With this Delimitation report, will national parties stand a better chance at forming government in J&K? Of the 90 Assembly Constituencies, 43 will be part of Jammu region and 47 for Kashmir region. So, does this mean that it is the end of road for the National Conference and the PDP.
Jammu and Kashmir have been treated as a single entity for the purposes of delimitation. The number of total assembly seats in Jammu has risen from 37 to 43 assembly seats.
The Patwar circle is the lowest administrative unit which has not been broken.
