INTERIM REPORT OF J&K DELIMITATION COMMISSION

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• Recently, in its interim report, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Delimitation Commission has proposed significant changes to the electoral map of J&K.
• The delimitation exercise had started in June 2021 in the state.

Previous Distribution of J&K Constituencies

• The erstwhile J&K State had an 87-member assembly, with 37 constituencies in the Jammu region and 46 in the Kashmir division and four in Ladakh. Besides, 24 seats are reserved and vacant for Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
• J&K lost its special status and was divided into two Union Territories (J&K and Ladakh) after the abrogation of its special status under Article 370, on 5th August, 2019. 

Major Recommendations of J&K Delimitation Commission

• The Commission has, as per the mandate granted under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, added seven assembly constituencies to J&K, increasing its strength from 87 to 90.
• The interim report proposes an increase of six seats for the Jammu province, taking the number of constituencies to 43, and an increase of one seat in the Kashmir province, taking the seat strength to 47, almost bringing the two regions at par with each other.
• The Commission has suggested redrawing of boundaries of most of the Assembly segments in J&K. It has named and reconfigured 28 new constituencies and deleted 19 assembly segments.

Reservation in Assemblies:

• The Commission has proposed to reserve seven seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) Hindus that mainly populate the Samba-Kathua-Jammu-Udhampur belt and nine seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs) which will help Gujjar and Bakerwals, mostly non-Kashmiri speaking Muslims inhabiting the Rajouri-Poonch belt in the Jammu province.
• The Commission has proposed reframing of Lok Sabha constituencies, with J&K having five parliamentary constituencies, which included three seats from Kashmir and two from Jammu.
• It has proposed a Lok Sabha seat, disjointed geographically, by merging three districts of south Kashmir and two districts of Rajouri and Poonch in the PirPanjal valley. It will be named Anantnag-Rajouri seat. 

Criticism:

• This seat sharing was criticised on the grounds that the Kashmir province has more population at 68.88 lakhs against 53.50 lakhs in the Jammu province.
• However, the commission argued that it has taken into account the topography, means of communication and convenience available and not just the population size.
• It has been claimed that the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 was “palpably unconstitutional” and it has already been challenged in the Supreme Court.

A Delimitation Commission

The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.

1. Retired Supreme Court judge
2. Chief Election Commissioner
3. Respective State Election Commissioners.

Need for Delimitation

• The uneven growth of population in different constituencies in different parts of the country as well as within the same state.
• Also, continuous migration of people / electorate from one place to another especially from rural areas to urban areas have resulted in strikingly different sizes of electoral constituencies even within the same State.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT