SRINAGAR: Decks were cleared on Thursday for the first-ever Assembly polls in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir after the final Delimitation Commission report rejected objections of three of the five associate members and Kashmir-based parties on redrawing its constituencies. Elections can be expected within the next five to six months.
The commission allotted six additional seats to the Jammu region and only one to Kashmir, though the latter has 15 lakh more population. Also, nine constituencies for were reserved for Scheduled Tribes for the first time in J&K’s history. Two nominated Assembly seats for Kashmiri Pandits and some seats for refugees from Pakistan occupied Kashmir were part of the recommendations of the commission headed by Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai with Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and J&K State Election Commissioner K K Sharma as members.
One of the nominated Pandits should be a female, the panel recommended. It suggested such members be given powers at par with that of nominated members of the Puducherry Assembly. The panel’s report was notified and published in the Gazette. In the outgoing J&K Assembly comprising 87 seats, Kashmir had 46 seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh 4.
In all, J&K will have five parliamentary constituencies with 18 Assembly seats in each of them. The Anantnag-Pulwama seat in south Kashmir has been renamed as Anantnag-Poonch. It will now comprise three south Kashmir districts and the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri of the Jammu region. Nine of the existing Assembly constituencies have been changed.
Following suggestions from political parties and the public, the panel renamed Tangmarg seat as Gulmarg, Zoonimar as Zaidibal, Sonwar as Lal Chowk, Padder as Padder-Nagseni, Kathua North as Jasrota, Kathua South as Kathua, Khour as Chhamb, Mahore as Gulabhgarh and Darhal as Budhal.
Besides, some existing Assembly seats were deleted and new constituencies created. J&K has been under Central rule since mid-June, 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to the Mehbooba-led PDP-BJP coalition government. The Delimitation Commission was set up in March 2020 to redraw the Assembly and parliamentary constituencies in J&K after Article 370 was hollowed out and the state bifurcated into two Union Territories. On March 14 this year, the panel put its interim report in public domain and invited objections and suggestions.
Final deal
90 seats in all in J&K
43 Total seats in Jammu
47 Total seats in Kashmir region
6 additional seats allotted to Jammu
1 additional seat allotted to Kashmir
ST quota
Jammu: 6 seats
Kashmir: 3 seats
SC reservation
Jammu: 7
Kashmir: 0
5 Lok Sabha seats
18 Assembly seats in each parliamentary constituency