Orders of J&K Delimitation Commission take effect
The commission issued its final order on May 5, earmarking 43 seats to the Hindu-majority Jammu region and 47 to Muslim-majority Kashmir – making up a total of 90 seats for the Union territory’s assembly, up from the current strength of 83.
The orders of the Delimitation Commission, a panel set up to redraw the assembly constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir, will come into effect from May 20, according to a gazette notification issued by the Union government on Friday.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 62 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (34 of 2019), the Central Government hereby appoints the 20th day of May 2022, as the date on which the orders of the Delimitation Commission, Order No. 1, dated the 14th March 2022 and Order No. 2, dated the 5th May 2022…shall take effect,” the ministry of law and justice said in a notification.
The commission issued its final order on May 5, earmarking 43 seats to the Hindu-majority Jammu region and 47 to Muslim-majority Kashmir – making up a total of 90 seats for the Union territory’s assembly, up from the current strength of 83.
Out of the seven new seats, six were allotted to Jammu and one to Kashmir. The panel finalised the union territory’s new electoral map on May 5, concluding the controversial exercise and paving the way for elections in the region for the first time since its special status, granted under Article 370 of the Constitution, was scrapped in 2019.
For the first time, the panel reserved nine seats for scheduled tribes (ST), reorganised some Lok Sabha constituencies while keeping their total number at five, renamed some assembly constituencies, and redrew some others.
All Lok Sabha constituencies now comprise 18 assembly segments each. It also recommended that members be nominated from Kashmiri migrant communities, which primarily comprise the Kashmiri Pandits, who were displaced at the peak of militancy in the region in the 1990s.
The three-member delimitation commission, which comprises former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and chief electoral officer of J&K KK Sharma, was set up in March 2020, with five parliament members from the UT as associate members.
Earlier, Jammu had 37 seats, and Kashmir had 46. The latest orders bring the Kashmir representation down to 52.2% from 55.4% of the total seals, and Jammu representation up from 44.6% to 47.8%.
Jammu & Kashmir lost its special status and statehood on August 5, 2019, when the central government moved to void Article 370 of the Constitution.
At a landmark all-party meeting in June last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told leaders of political parties that statehood would be restored after fresh elections are held in the region, based on the delimitation process.
But parties from the region, which remain bitterly opposed to the scrapping of the special status, want statehood to be restored before the delimitation and elections – a demand rejected by the Centre.
The panel held deliberations with 242 delegations, received hundreds of representations and met approximately 1,600 stakeholders over more than two years.
