The Lok Sabha Speaker has nominated 15 MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh as ‘associate members’ of the Delimitation Commission to assist the panel in redrawing parliamentary and assembly constituencies of the northeastern states and the union territory. The 15 MPs include two Union ministers — Kiren Rijiju and Dr Jitendra Singh. The Delimitation Commission had recently written to Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla and presiding officers of the Assemblies of the four northeastern states to name associate members of the panel. Jammu and Kashmir at present has no Legislative Assembly. It is a Union Territory with a provision of a legislature. Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of states, for which the Delimitation Commission is set up, are drawn in as associate members to help the panel in its task. According to a Lok Sabha bulletin of May 26, Union minister Kiren Rijiju, and Tapir Gao will represent Arunachal Pradesh. Assam will be represented by Pallab Lochan Das, Abdul Khaleque, Rajdeep Roy, Dilip Saikia and Naba (Hira) Kumar Sarania. While Manipur will have Lorho S Pfoze and Ranjan Singh Rajkumar in the Delimitation Commission, Nagaland will be represented by Tokheho Yepthomi. Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone Hasnain Masoodi, Jugal Kishore Sharma and Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh will be the panel’s associate members from Jammu and Kashmir. The government had on March 6 constituted the Delimitation Commission, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and state election commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir and the four states will be its ex-officio members. The commission will delimit the constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, and of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in accordance with the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002, a Law Ministry notification had earlier said. The Commission had met on Thursday to review the progress of work so far.
