Following the request of Ministry of Legislative Affairs concerning Delimitation Commission, the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has nominated Sushil Chandra as his nominee to the proposed redrawing the constituency boundaries for Jammu & Kashmir.
Section 62 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 mentions a fresh delimitation exercise to redraw J&K’s parliamentary and Assembly constituencies.
According to the EC, following a request from the Government, Arora named Chandra as his nominee for the proposed commission. Besides, two retired EC officials — Shingara Ram and RK Srivastava — have been engaged to help in the delimitation process. Both have contributed in the past delimitation exercise.
Delimitation of constituencies is necessary for elections, and the process could take several months or even a year.
The total population would be divided over the 114 seats to get an average number of electors per constituency.
The boundaries of the constituencies would then be drawn while ensuring that administrative units are not split as far as possible.
As per law, 24 seats of the Assembly continue to
remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“...the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir shall be increased from 107 to 114, and delimitation of the constituencies may be determined by the Election Commission in the manner hereinafter provided,” according to the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019.
The law also said the Lok Sabha will have five seats from the UT of J&K, while Ladakh will have one seat “On and from the appointed day, there shall be allocated five seats to the successor UT of J&K and one seat to UT of Ladakh, in the House of the People, and the First Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950) shall be deemed to be amended accordingly,” it said.