Election Commission discusses Jammu and Kashmir delimitation

Election Commission is familiarising itself with the aspect of the Bill that concern reorganising the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. The Bill proposes addition of seven more assembly seats.

The Election Commission of India on Tuesday held an internal meeting on the issue of delimitation to be carried out in Jammu and Kashmir after Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisational Bill last week.

The Election Commission will carry out the delimitation exercise to hold fresh elections for Jammu and Kashmir, after the law converting it into a union territory with legislature comes into force from October 31.(AP Photo)

According to an official aware of the developments, the commission was familiarising itself with the provisions of the Bill as per which the state will now be transformed into two Union Territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh that will come into effect on October 31.

Delimitation is the process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province with a legislative body.

According to Section 60 of the Act, “The number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be increased from 107 to 114”.

“It was a meeting to inform the commission members about the provisions of the Act and the process that was followed for carrying out delimitation when new states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were carved out,” the official said.

The official did not comment on how soon the poll panel will begin the process of delimitation.

There were indications that assembly elections in the state could be held around October- November; however it seems unlikely that the polls will be conducted before next year, since the delimitation exercise will take a few months.

Elections cannot he held in the state after November, keeping in view the weather conditions.

The exercise of delimitation will be carried out in J&K after over two decades, in 2002, the J&K Assembly had passed a law putting a freeze on fresh delimitation of seats till 2026.

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