JOIN USJ&K Delimitation Commission unlikely to submit its report on time
With the Central government time and again making delimitation as a prerequisite for holding much awaited assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the Delimitation Commission may miss the deadline of March 6, 2022 to complete the exercise.
The Commission, headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai, was set up by the Union Law Ministry on March 6, 2020 with one-year tenure. However, with little work in a year, its term was extended by another year in March this year.
The Commission has to share a draft report with five associate members and then put it in public domain for claims and objections which is a time consuming exercise. However, with less than three months left, the Commission is unlikely to complete the exercise by March 6, 2022.
Since it was constituted, the Commission has made only one visit to J&K for four days from July 6-9 this year. The Commission had stated that it will visit the Union Territory again, but no visit was made in the last five months.
The panel had to update five associate members about the progress made on delimitation of 90 Assembly constituencies in the Union Territory (UT) which has also not been done so far. It has only held one meeting with the associate members on February 18 this year in New Delhi.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had several times in the past stated that assembly polls in J&K will be held only after the completion of delimitation, any delay in completion of the exercise will further postpone elections.
In Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai did not give any deadline for completion of delimitation exercise in J&K. While responding to a question by Satyadev Pachauri, who wanted to know the time by which the working of Delimitation Commission is likely to be completed, he said, “as early as possible.”
Once the delimitation exercise is completed, the number of Assembly seats in J&K will go up from 83 to 90. 24 seats of the Assembly will continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).
Assembly seats in J&K were earlier delimited in 1963, 1973 and 1995. The last delimitation exercise was conducted in J&K under President’s rule in 1995 by retired Justice K K Gupta Commission. The next exercise was due in 2005, but in 2002, then state government chose to freeze delimitation until 2026. The decision was in line with the pan-India freeze on delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies till the first census after 2026.
However, as the August 5, 2019 decision annulled J&K’s constitution, the freeze on delimitation till 2026 also became irrelevant. In fact, J&K Reorganisation Act, which came into force on October 31, 2019, mandates delimitation of constituencies in the UT.
The elections in J&K have been due since the PDP-BJP alliance fell apart in June 2018, after which the erstwhile state was brought under central rule.
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