New Delhi, March 14 (UNI) The Delimitation Commission of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday put the proposals of its draft report in the public domain and invited suggestions by March 21.
The Commission has published the proposals in the Gazette of India and the Gazette of Jammu and Kashmir, along with the dissenting proposals submitted by the associate members. The commission is tasked with redrawing boundaries of assembly constituencies post the splitting of the state into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – on August 5, 2019.
The commission has also incorporated two detailed dissenting notes signed by three National Conference (NC) Lok Sabha members including Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi In its draft proposal the Commission didn’t increase number of Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir. It also didn’t reserve any Parliamentary constituency for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). However, it reserved seven seats for SCs and nine for STs in the Legislative Assembly.
In a statement the commission said, the number of Parliamentary seats in Jammu and Kashmir will remain five. Kashmir and Jammu divisions now have two Lok Sabha seats each while one seat is spread over both the divisions.
Jammu has Jammu-Reasi and Udhampur-Doda constituencies while Kashmir has Srinagar-Budgam and Baramulla-Kupwara. Anantnag-Poonch seat is part of both the divisions. The Commission said no Parliamentary constituency has been reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Delimitation Commission, which is headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai and comprises Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner (SEC) KK Sharma, was formed in March 2020 to redraw Assembly and LS constituencies in J&K.
After the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K state, the Center has increased the J&K Assembly seats from existing 83 seats (46 in Kashmir and 37 in Jammu region) to 90.
Of the seven additional seats, Delimitation Commission has proposed six more seats in Jammu region and only one additional seat in Kashmir. If the Delimitation Commission proposals figure in its final report of the 90 Assembly seats in J&K, Kashmir will be having 47 seats and Jammu region would have 43 seats. The commission has also announced that it will visit the union territory on March 28 and 29 for public meetings.
