Assembly seats will increase in Jammu and Kashmir! The proposal given in the report of the Delimitation Commission

The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission has made public on Monday its report regarding the re-determining of assembly and parliamentary constituencies, asking them to submit objections and suggestions by March 21. The commission, in its final report published in the Gazettes of India and Jammu and Kashmir, has proposed to keep the number of Lok Sabha constituencies at 5, while increasing the number of assembly seats to 90 from the present 83. In the report, there is a proposal to increase the assembly seats by 6 in Jammu and one in Kashmir.

The detailed resolution on Monday also included two dissent notes signed by four of the five associate members of the commission. The dissenting motions are signed by three National Conference MPs Farooq Abdullah, Hasnain Masoodi and Mohammad Akbar Lone and BJP MP Jugal Kishor. Union Minister Jitendra Singh is the sixth associate member of the commission. Commission secretary KN Bhar said in the notification, “The commission invites objections and suggestions in this regard.” According to the notification, any objections and suggestions regarding the proposals should reach the office of the Secretary, Delimitation Commission on or before March 21. The commission will consider the suggestions during public meetings in the union territory on March 28 and 29. “The venue and timing of the above meetings will be notified separately,” it said.

Copies of the Gazette are available for reference to the Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir and the Election Officers in all the districts of the Union Territory. The commission was given an extension of two months on March 6 and was to submit a report before May 6. According to the draft resolution made public on Monday, there is no increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir. Similarly, there is no reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Parliamentary seat of the Union Territory.

The report said that there is a proposal to increase the number of J&K assembly seats to 90, out of which seven seats will be reserved for SCs and nine for STs. The draft states that the Jammu division will have Jammu-Reasi and Udhampur-Doda constituencies while the Kashmir division will have Srinagar-Budgam and Baramulla-Kupwara constituencies. Anantnag-Poonch seat will be part of both the divisions. A three-member commission headed by Justice (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai, constituted in March 2020, has proposed six more seats in the 90-member House in the Jammu region and an additional seat in Kashmir. Of the 90-member assembly, 47 seats will be in Kashmir while 43 seats will be in the Jammu region.

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After the removal of Article 370, 890 central laws came into force in Jammu and Kashmir, Nirmala Sitharaman gave information in Parliament