The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday finalised the delimitation order and submitted it to the Election Commission of India wherein it has recommended 43 Assembly seats for Jammu division and 47 seats to the Kashmir region.
For the first time, nine Assembly Constituencies (ACs) have been reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, out of which, six are in Jammu region and three in Kashmir. The constitution of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state had no provision for the reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly.
The Commission headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, (a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India), and Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, and Election Commissioner of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir K.K. Sharma as Ex-Officio members of the Delimitation Commission met Thursday to finalise the Delimitation Order for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
You can read the full order copy below:
In pursuance of sub-section (1) of Section 10 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 (33 of 2002) and Part-V of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the following Order made by the Delimitation Commission under sub-section (2) of Section 9 read with sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Part – V of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, in respect of the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir is hereby published.
WHEREAS, in pursuance of Sections 8 and 4 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 (33 of 2002), as amended by the Delimitation (Amentment) Act, 2003(3 of 2004), and Part – V of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Delimitation Commision has, by its Order No.1 dated 14th March, 2022 published in the extraordinary issue of the Gazette of India and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir Gazette on 14th March, 2022, determined – (i) the total number of seats in the House of the People to be allocated to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir as five (5) of which Zero(0) seat shall be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Zero(0) seat shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, and (ii) the total number of seats to be assigned to the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory as Ninty (90) of which, Seven (7) seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Nine (9) seats for the Scheduled Tribes; and
WHEREAS, in pursuance of sub-section (1) of Section 5, read with sub Section (1) of Section 9 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Part-V of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Delimitation Commission associated with itself the Associate Members from the Union Territory with the proceedings for the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies in the Union Territory; and
WHEREAS, in pursuance of sub-section (2) of Section 9 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Part –V of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Delimitation Commission published its draft proposals, for the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies in the Union Territory on the basis of the relevant published figures of 2011 Census, in the extraordinary issue of the Gazette of India and in the Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory Gazette on 14th March, 2022, inviting objections and suggestions in relation to the aforesaid proposals by 21st March, 2022; and
WHEREAS, in pursuance of the said sub-section (2) of Section 9 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Part -V the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Commission's Order No. 1 mentioned above and the above referred draft proposals of the Commission was published in the local newspapers on 14th March, 2022 and given further publicity through radio and television and other media of mass communication; and
WHEREAS, in pursuance of the said sub-section (2) of Section (9) of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Part – V of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Commission also issued a public notice on 25th March, 2022 specifying the places and dates of its public sittings to consider all objections and suggestions; and
WHEREAS, in pursuance of the said sub-section (2) of Section 9 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Part – V of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Commission held public sittings on 4th April, 2022 at Jammu and on 5th April, 2022 at Srinagar and heard the members of the public and afforded them full opportunity of making oral and written submissions, in addition to the written representations already sent, if any, to the Commission; and
WHEREAS, the Commission has considered all objections and suggestions made at the aforesaid public sittings and/or received by it otherwise, in relation to its said proposals, in the light of the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the said Acts;
NOW THEREFORE, in pursuance of clause (d) of Sub-Section (2) of Section 9 read with Sub-Section (2) of Section 4 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, as amended and Part – V of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Delimitation Commission hereby determines as follows:
- Ninety territorial Assembly Constituencies into which the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir shall be divided for the purpose of elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory and the extent of each such Constituency shall be as shown in Table-A [As envisaged in Section 14(4) of The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (34 of 2019), 24 seats have not been taken up for the purpose of delimitation].
- The territorial Parliamentary Constituencies into which the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir shall be divided for the purpose of elections to the House of the People and the extent of each such Constituency shall be as shown in Table-B.
- Where the name of a Constituency as shown in Table-A or Table-B is distinguished by the brackets and letters "(SC)" the seat in that Constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Castes.
- Where the name of a Constituency as shown in Table-A or Table-B is distinguished by the brackets and letters "(ST)" the seat in that Constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.
