In order to understand about the delimitation of the constituencies in J&K properly,lets go the history of this delimitation of the constituencies.
After accession of state to India, the State Constituent Assembly was constituted under the 1939 Constitution, but Sheikh Abdullah’s administration arbitrarily carved out 30 seats for Jammu region and 43 seats for Kashmir region and two seats for Ladakh region. This regional disparity became entrenched thereafter: Kashmir (46), Jammu (37) and Ladakh (four).
According to the 2011 census, the total population of Jammu Division was 53,78,538 of which Dogras are the dominant group comprising 62.55 per cent of the population. Jammu has 25.93 per cent of the area and 42.89 per cent of the population.
Against this Kashmir Division or the intermontane valley population in 2011 was 68,88,475 with 96.40 per cent Muslims. Though it has 15.73 per cent of the state’s area, it holds 54.93 per cent of the population.
Ladakh has 58.33 per cent of the area accounting for 2.18 per cent of the population, a mere 2,74,289 people reside there of which 46.40 per cent are Muslims, 12.11 per cent Hindus and 39.67 per cent Buddhist.
Incidentally the Constitution provides for delimitation every 10 years, the next delimitation of assembly constituencies should have logically taken place in 2005. However, in 2002, the Farooq Abdullah government chose to freeze delimitation until 2026 by amending the Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act 1957 and Section 47(3) of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. The amended Section 47(3) provided “that until the relevant figures for the first census taken after the year 2026 have been published, it shall not be necessary to readjust the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State and the division of the State into territorial constituencies under this sub-section”. This put the contentious matter in abeyance.
This is where the Governor comes in. On his intervention, this can be changed. For during President’s Rule, the legislative authority is vested in the Governor. The last delimitation on provisional basis was done in 1993 by Governor Jagmohan when Jammu and Kashmir was divided into 87 assembly constituencies.
Now the BJP reportedly wants to redraw the boundaries of Assembly constituencies in the state in order to increase the number of seats from Jammu.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday reacted sharply to reports that the government was planning to constitute a delimitation commission in the state to redraw the boundaries of Assembly constituencies. They said this was “another emotional partition of the state on communal lines” and “an attempt to make changes without mandate” from the people of the state.
Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a detailed meeting today with Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and other senior officials of the ministry’s Kashmir division, PTI reported. Shah was given a detailed presentation on the situation in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has been pushing for a delimitation exercise in the seat with the aim of getting more seats for Jammu region in the 87-member state Assembly. Muslim-majority Kashmir has 46 seats, followed by Jammu region with 37 and Ladakh with four. There was a possibility of the government constituting the delimitation commission to redraw the scope and size of the Assembly segments and determine the number of seats reserved for Schedules Castes, unidentified officials told.
Omar Abdullah said the freeze on delimitation till 2026 was put in place to bring Jammu and Kashmir in line with the rest of the country. “The same was challenged and upheld in both the High Court of J&K and he Supreme Court,” he tweeted. “A freeze on delimitation has been applied to the entire country until 2026 and contrary to the way some ill-informed TV channels are trying to sell it it isn’t just a J&K specific freeze.”
In a series of tweets, Abdullah said the BJP talks about bringing Jammu and Kashmir on par with other states by removing Articles 370 and 35-A but “now wants to treat J&K differently from other states in this one respect”.
The National Conferene leader said his party would oppose a delimitation commission. “When delimitation takes place in the rest of the country the BJP is welcome to apply it to J&K until then we in the National Conference will oppose, tooth & nail, any attempt to make changes without a mandate from the people of the state.”
Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti accused the government of inflicting pain on the people of the state. “Distressed to hear about government of India’s plan to redraw assembly constituencies in J&K,” she tweeted. “Forced delimitation is an obvious attempt to inflict another emotional partition of the state on communal lines. Instead of allowing old wounds to heal, GoI is inflicting pain on Kashmiris.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party first raised the demand for a delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir in 2008 during the Amarnath land row.
Two years later, the Supreme Court upheld the freeze imposed by Jammu and Kashmir government on delimitation of Assembly constituencies in the state till 2026 and dismissed the plea that it violated the “basic structure” of the state’s constitution. Rejecting National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh’s argument that it deprived the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the right to represent the Valley, the apex court said courts cannot interfere in matters of delimitation as there was an express constitutional bar on such interference.
Singh welcomed reports about a delimitation commission, and accused the Congress and the National Conference of discriminating against people in the Jammu region.
BJP state General Secretary Ashok Kaul also welcomed the government’s proposed move. “We have strongly raised it in the past that this exercise should be undertaken,” PTI quoted him as saying. “It was also listed in the agenda of alliance with the PDP.”
The delimitation move , which came six months after the Centre split Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories and scrapped its special constitutional status, is expected to pave the way for the Assembly elections.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has named his deputy, Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, his nominee to a proposed Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, a spokesperson for the poll panel said. This was based on a request by the Department of Legislative Affairs of the Ministry of Law and Justice.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which was passed by Parliament in August and came into effect in October, Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislative Assembly while the Union Territory of Ladakh will not. The reorganisation act had stipulated that the number of seats in the Jammu and Kashmir state Assembly will be raised from 107 to 114 and delimitation will provide for reserved seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The delimitation commission will have three members – a serving or retired Supreme Court judge, who will also be the chairperson, the chief election commissioner or an election commissioner nominated by the chief, and the state election commissioner. The other two members of the panel have not yet been named.
The process is expected to take at least four months, according to reports. After this, elections can take place in the Union Territory, which is currently under President’s Rule.
