Jammu and Kashmir's upcoming Delimitation

The story: Delimitation is the formal act of redrawing boundaries of an Assembly or Lok Sabha seat, to represent changes in population over time. This

Jammu and Kashmir's upcoming Delimitation

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• The story: Delimitation is the formal act of redrawing boundaries of an Assembly or Lok Sabha seat, to represent changes in population over time. This is done out by a Delimitation Commission, whose orders cannot be questioned before any court. The goal is to redraw boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) so that the population of all seats be the same throughout the State (as far as possible and practicable). This naturally can change the limits of a constituency, and may result in change in the number of seats in a state.
• Special state, special delimitation: Delimitation exercises in J&K have been different due to the region’s special status, something scrapped by the Modi government in August 2019. The rule before that was that delimitation of Lok Sabha seats would be as per the Constitution of India, but of the state’s Assembly seats would be as per the (i) Jammu and Kashmir Constitution and (ii) Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957.

1. Assembly seats in J&K were delimited in 1963, 1973 and 1995. The last exercise was conducted by the Justice (retired) K K Gupta Commission when the state was under President’s Rule and based on the 1981 census, which formed the basis of the state elections in 1996.
2. There was no census in the state in 1991 and no Delimitation Commission was set up by the state government after the 2001 census as the J&K Assembly passed a law putting a freeze on the fresh delimitation of seats until 2026. This freeze was upheld by the Supreme Court. The J&K Assembly, at that time, had 87 seats — 46 in Kashmir, 37 in Jammu and 4 in Ladakh. Twenty-four more seats are reserved for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The freeze created inequity for Jammu (allegation).

• It's a UT now: For Assembly elections to be held in the new Union Territory, delimitation will be necessary. The Union government’s invitation to 14 key political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir for a meeting with the PM at Delhi may be for the Assembly elections. On 15th August 2020, the PM had said elections would be held in J&K after the delimitation process.
• Abrogation of Art.370: Since J&K’s special status was abrogated in 2019, delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the UT has to be as per the provisions of the Indian Constitution. On March 6, 2020, the government set up the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, tasked with winding up delimitation in J&K in one year. As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, the number of Assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to benefit the Jammu region. Apart from Desai, Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and J&K State Election Commissioner K K Sharma are the ex-officio members of the delimitation panel. The panel has five associate members — National Conference MPs Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh, and Jugal Kishore Sharma of the BJP. The Commission was granted one year's extension on March 4, 2021 (Covid-19-induced shutdowns).
• Get me the day: In June, the Election Commission wrote to Deputy Commissioners of all 20 districts in J&K seeking fresh information on several aspects including population density and topography, to study the geographical spread of the Assembly seats, to see whether a seat is within one district or spread over several districts, etc.
• Opposition: But the Commission’s work won't be easy, as the National Conference MPs Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi have refused to participate, stating that the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019 was “unconstitutional” and till the time the Supreme Court decides the constitutional validity of this law, no decisions on delimitation should be implemented. Today, the National Conference may be open for dialogue.

 

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