SRINAGAR: The Delimitation Commission, which has been tasked to redraw boundaries of Assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday published its proposals for delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory.
The delimitation commission has published the proposals in the Gazette of India and Gazette of J&K along with the dissenting proposals submitted by the associate members.
Five Lok Sabha MPs from J&K are associate members of the commission. Of them, three MPs belong to the National Conference and two MPs belong to BJP.
The NC MPs' joint dissent note pertained to different Assembly constituencies besides challenging the constitution of the Delimitation Commission pending Supreme Court verdict on Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act.
The commission has asked the general public to submit their objections/ suggestions by or before March 21.
“Any objection/ suggestions in regard to these proposals should reach the secretary, Delimitation Commission, Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi,110001 on or before 5 pm on March 21,” reads the notification.
The Commission would be visiting Jammu and Kashmir on March 28 and 29 for public sittings. The location and timing of the sitting will be notified separately.
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 Home Ministry 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 6 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 43 seats.
Of the 90- Assembly seats, seven seats have been reserved for Scheduled Caste and nine for Scheduled Tribe. The Delimitation Commission’s term was recently extended by two months till May 6.
After the Delimitation Commission submits its report to the government, the elections in J&K would be held in the next five to six months.