Shah plans to end inequity in J&K representation, to end freeze on delimitation
In what could be termed as a move to eliminate regional imbalance in people’s representation between Jammu and Kashmir regions, the Centre is mulling to appoint a new Delimitation Commission. The Commission will redraw the size of Assembly constituencies and determine the number of seats to be reserved for SCs and STs in the Valley.
According to highly placed sources, the proposed delimitation exercise was discussed in a series of recent meetings chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and attended by Jammu & Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Intelligence Bureau Director Rajiv Jain.
The high-level meeting decided to explore legal options on the appointment of the new Delimitation Commission, as the Farooq Abdullah Government had in 2002 passed a law in thAssembly to freeze delimitation up to 2026, which enabled the status quo giving greater number of Assembly seats to the Kashmir region. The last delimitation took place in the State in 1993.
Currently, of the total 87 elected members of the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly, Kashmir region has 46 seats but more populous Jammu region has only 37 seats.
As the State is under President’s Rule, with Governor’s report and Presidential assent, the Centre can bring a new Delimitation Commission and implement same parameters in the entire State, which would result in increasing the number of seats in the Jammu region.
Apart from number parameters, area factor was also tilted in favour of Kashmir region when last delimitation process was undertaken in 1993.
The maximum number of voters in the Assembly segments in the Kashmir region is never more than 80,000. Certain Assembly segments like Gurez in the Kashmir Valley is having around only 25,000 voters. But nearly all Assembly segments in Jammu region have more than 98,000 voters each and majority of the seats have more than 1.25 lakh voters.
In nutshell, Jammu region has 37 seats with around 38 lakh voters and Kashmir region has 46 seats with more than 40 lakh voters, including more than 1.2 lakh Kashmiri Hindu votes, who were driven out from the Valley two decades ago when terrorism started.
Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency has 12,94,560 voters and Anantnag constituency has 13,97,272 voters. Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in the Kashmir region has 13,17,738 voters. The number of voters in Jammu-Poonch and Kathua-Udhampur Lok Constituencies is 20,47,299 and 16,85,779, respectively.
If the new Delimitation Commission implements same parameters across both the divisions in the State, the number of seats would raise up to around 50 seats in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly with total number of 87 seats, leading to the total change in the political landscape.