The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission on Thursday recommended seven additional constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir(J&K). Earlier J&K had 83 constituencies but it will be 90, if the recommendation made by the delimitation commission is accepted. . The commission presented its report a day before its dissolution. The commission changed names of some constituencies and shifted a few Tehsils and Patwar Halqas from one segment to another, and recommended nomination of two Kashmiri migrants. In 2019, the Central government abrogated Article 370 following which the special status of J&K got scrapped. This led to the formation of Jammu and Kashmir as one Union Territory(UT) with a legislature and Ladakh as second UT without legislature. On 6 March 2020, the Central government set up the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court Judges. What all is there in the report of the Delimitation Commission.
Recommendation of Delimitation Commission | Key points
1. The Commission was headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai and comprised Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner (SEC), K.K. Sharma. Additionally, the commission included National Conference MPs Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh, and Jugal Kishore Sharma of the BJP.
2. The Commission has recommended 2 nominated members from the Kashmiri migrant community out of which 1 has to be a female.
3. The Commission recommended the addition of 7 constituencies, 6 for Jammu and 1 for Kashmir. This shows a significant increase in the number of seats from 83 to 90 now. Jammu region earlier had 37 seats which now increased to 43 and Kashmir Valley had 46 now turned to 47.
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4. The commission has also proposed reservation of 9 Assembly seats for Scheduled Tribes- 6 in Jammu and 3 in Kashmir.
5. The Commission also laid stress on removal of the regional distinction between J&K and has carved out Anantnag-Rajouri as a Parliamentary Constituency. All 5 Parliamentary constituencies of J&K will now have an equal number of Assembly Constituencies-18 seats each.
6. It also recommended some representation to people displaced from POK(Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir).
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7. Few names of Assembly Constituencies have also been changed as per the demand of local representatives. Tangmarg changed to Gulmarg, Zoonimar is Zaidibal, Sonwar changed to Lal Chowk, Padder has been renamed as Padder-Nagseni, Kathua North is Jasrota, Kathua South changed to Kathua, Khour is Chhamb, Mahore is Gulabhgarh and Darhal is Budhal.
