J&K: Delimitation Commission's Draft Report Proposes Major Overhaul Of Assembly, Lok Sabha Constituencies

The report has ignored the objections filed by National Conference where it rejected the proposal to increase six assembly seats in the Jammu region as opposed to just one in the Kashmir division.

Representative Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The Delimitation Commission, in its draft report, has proposed that the assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir undergo an overhaul which has been handed over to five associate members for their suggestions, officials said on Saturday.

It was informed that the voluminous report has proposed redrawing of the Anantnag Parliamentary seat by including Rajouri and Poonch from the Jammu region, as well as carrying out massive changes in the Kashmir division, news agency PTI reported.

According to the officials, many of the assembly seats in the erstwhile Jammu-Kashmir state have vanished. These include Habba Kadal, a seat that was seen as a traditional bastion of migrant Kashmiri pandits.

Except for Khanyar, Sonwar, and Hazratbal assembly seats in the Srinagar district, all other seats have been redrawn and merged with new assembly seats being carved out such as Channapora and Srinagar South, the officials stated.

It was revealed that the voters from Habba Kadal will now be part of at least three assembly seats in the new proposed report.

Budgam district, which had five assembly seats, was redrawn and merged with Baramulla Parliamentary constituency. Some of the areas were split, carving out new assembly seats like Kunzer in North Kashmir.

As per the officials cited by PTI, the Sangrama seat in North Kashmir has been merged with other assembly seats.

Pulwama, Tral, and some areas of Shopian, which were part of the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, will now be included in the Srinagar Parliamentary seat.

Associate Members Asked To Submit Views By Feb 14

The report was sent to the five associate members which include Farooq Abdullah, Hasnain Masoodi, and Akbar Lone (Lok Sabha MPs from the National Conference), and Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore (BJP MPs) on Friday.

The associate members have been asked to submit their suggestions by February 14 after which the report would be released in the public domain, the officials said.

According to PTI, the report has ignored the objections filed by the National Conference on December 31 last year where it rejected the proposal to increase six assembly seats in the Jammu region as opposed to just one in the Kashmir division.

Delimitation Commission

On March 6, 2020, the Delimitation Commission headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai with Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and state election commission KK Sharma was set up. It was granted an extension of a year on March 6, 2021, which is set to end next month.

The Commission held two meetings with the Associate Members on February 18 and December 20 last year. The first meeting was boycotted by the three National Conference MPs, they attended the second meeting.

The NC had opposed the draft proposals on increasing the number of Assembly seats in the Jammu division from 37 to 43 and in Kashmir from 46 to 47.

In its objections, the party had termed the Reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir Act as "Constitutionally suspect" and questioned the recommendations of the delimitation panel especially its rationale behind increasing six seats in the Jammu division as against one in the Kashmir region.

The party argued that there were question marks over the Constitutional propriety of the panel especially since NC along with several others had approached the Supreme Court challenging the revocation of the special status along with bifurcating the erstwhile state in two Union territories - Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

National Conference stated that the Commission has been formed because of the Reorganisation Act of Jammu and Kashmir 2019 which is under judicial scrutiny and the Supreme Court is yet to deliver its verdict.

The panel's recommendations are borne out of an Act which is a "Constitutionally suspect" law, it added.

The party also contested the Commission's reasoning that the seats had to be extended in the Jammu region because of difficult terrains and geographically remote areas.

It mentioned that several areas in Kashmir remain cut-off for months and are equally arduous when it comes to the remoteness of an area, pointing out several areas in Anantnag, Kupwara, Baramulla, Kulgam and Uri in Kashmir division to compare remoteness and tough terrain.

National Conference's major objection was over the formula that had been adopted by the Delimitation Commission stating that it was throwing the concept of population to the wind as Kashmir division, despite having a higher number of people compared to Jammu, got only one seat.

After the completion of the delimitation exercise, the number of Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir will increase from 83 to 90.

In the erstwhile assembly of Jammu and Kashmir state, Kashmir had 46 seats, Jammu 37, and Ladakh four.

(With Agency Inputs)