The delimitation commission to redraw the electoral map of Jammu and Kashmir today notified and submitted its much-awaited final report today. The completion of the delimitation process will pave the wave for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The former state has been without an elected government since June 2018.
All five parliamentary constituencies will have an equal number of assembly constituencies for the first time. In addition, nine seats have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST), another first for the erstwhile state.
Of the 90 assembly constituencies, 43 will be part of the Jammu region and 47 for Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir have been treated as a single entity for delimitation. As a result, Jammu’s number of total assembly seats has risen from 37 to 43 assembly seats.
The Delimitation Commission has seen the Jammu & Kashmir region as one single Union Territory. Therefore, one of the Parliamentary Constituency has been carved out, combining the Anantnag region in the Valley and the Rajouri & Poonch of the Jammu region.
According to the delimitation order, all assembly constituencies shall remain within the boundary of the concerned district.
The Patwar circle is the lowest administrative unit which has not been broken.
The commission has recommended additional seats in the assembly for Kashmiri migrants, and displaced persons from Pakistan occupied J&K.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, the census of 2011 had to be the basis of delimitation, but the commission eventually said that it would also take into account the political aspirations of various sections of society and factor in accessibility, topography and proximity to the border as part of the consideration to allot seats.
