Delimitation Commission submits report: Recommends 43 Assembly seats for Jammu, 47 for Kashmir
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The delimitation commission to redraw the electoral map of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday notified and submitted its much-awaited final report.
The Commission in its report has recommended seven additional constituencies — six for Jammu and one for Kashmir — taking the total number of seats in the UT to 90 from 83 earlier. This will increase the number of seats in the Jammu Division to 43 from 37 seats earlier, and that in the Kashmir Valley to 47 from 46 earlier.
Three other important takeaways from the order of the delimitation panel, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, are: i) reorganisation of the Parliamentary constituencies such that the five Lok Sabha seats now are made up of exactly 18 Assembly constituencies each, taking the total number to 90, ii) reservation of nine Assembly seats for Scheduled Tribes – six in Jammu and three in Kashmir, and iii) removal of the regional distinction between Jammu and Kashmir and treating it as one, as is reflected in the combining of Anantnag region in Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu to carve out Anantnag-Rajouri as a Parliamentary constituency.
All assembly constituencies shall remain within the boundary of the concerned district, according to the delimitation order.
The commission has recommended additional seats in the assembly for Kashmiri migrants and displaced persons from Pakistan occupied J&K.
The completion of the controversial delimitation process will pave the way for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The former state is without an elected government since June 2018.
The draft report of the commission that was made public a few months ago has caused a huge controversy after the opposition alleged gerrymandering to help BJP and turning the demographic majority into a political minority in several areas.
Home Minister Amit Shah recently said elections would be held in Jammu and Kashmir after the completion of the delimitation process.