NEW DELHI, May 5: The much-awaited final report of the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission on redraw of constituencies was notified and made public on Thursday clearing the way for holding of the first-ever elections to the Assembly since it was declared a Union Territory in 2019.
According to an official statement, 43 seats for the Jammu division and 47 for the Kashmir division have been demarcated, with a total of nine seats reserved for Schedule Tribes for the first time. “The completion of the controversial delimitation process will pave the way for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir,” an official spokesman said. The former state is without an elected government since June 2018. The union home minister Amit Shah had recently said elections would be held in Jammu and Kashmir after the completion of the delimitation process.
“All five Parliamentary constituencies will have an equal number of Assembly constituencies for the first time,” the statement said. The panel has recommended two seats for Kashmiri migrants and suggested the Centre “consider some representation for people displaced from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).”
Jammu and Kashmir have been treated as a single entity for the purposes of delimitation. Of the 90 assembly constituencies, 43 will be part of the Jammu region and 47 of Kashmir. The number of total assembly seats in Jammu has risen from 37 to 43. All assembly constituencies shall remain within the boundary of the concerned district, according to the delimitation order.
The Commission has also restored old names and reworked a few Assembly segments in the Kashmir division, which were otherwise renamed in the previous draft, evoking criticism from local parties.
In north Kashmir, the Gulmarg and Wagoora-Kreeri Assembly segments have been restored on traditional geographical limits. Similarly, constituency names like Hazratbal, Zadibal, Lal Chowk and Eidgah have been restored in Srinagar. In the Jammu division, the name of the Gulabgarh constituency has been restored. Earlier, the Commission had named and reconfigured 28 new constituencies and deleted 19 Assembly segments.
The Commission has not incorporated one of the key demands made by regional parties, including the National Conference, that Jammu division’s Rajouri should not be merged with south Kashmir’s Anantnag as a separate Lok Sabha constituency, given that the two areas remain cut off in winters and have no direct access. Similarly, the demand to add south Kashmir Assembly segments like Shopian Tral, Pulwama and Pampore to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat has not been incorporated in the fresh draft.
The three-member J&K Delimitation Commission, headed by Justice (Retd.) Ranjana Prakash Desai, was constituted on March 6, 2020 specifically for J&K by the Parliament under the provisions of Part V of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019. The panel’s associate members include two MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and three MPs from the National Conference (NC).
The Delimitation Commission recommended the Government of India to make provisions for at least two members in the Legislative Assembly from the community of Kashmiri migrants, one of whom must be female. Such members may be given power at par with the power of nominated members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Puducherry, it suggested.
The regional political parties had earlier rejected the delimitation proposal and alleged that the boundaries of seats were redrawn only to help BJP achieve its political objectives. “The delimitation exercise is done for furtherance of BJP agenda. The commission has shown no regard for law and Constitution. Particularly, the majority community, be it in Rajouri, Kashmir or China valley has been disempowered. In a sense they have been disenfranchised,” former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said after the first draft report was made public.
(Manas Dasgupta)
