Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai on Wednesday said that the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has intimated that there was no significant protest against the report of the Delimitation Commission.
However, various political parties have expressed different views on the report, he added.
“The government of Jammu and Kashmir has intimated that there was no significant protest against the report of the Delimitation Commission. However, various political parties have expressed different views on the report,” MoS Home Nityanand Rai told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
The move comes days after the Delimitation Commission headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, (retired judge of the Supreme Court), Sushil Chandra, (Chief Election Commissioner) and KK Sharma, (State Election Commissioner, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir), as ex-officio members of the Delimitation Commission, met on May 5 to finalise the Delimitation Order for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the final Delimitation Order, out of the 90 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) in Jammu and Kashmir, 43 will be part of the Jammu region and 47 for the Kashmir region keeping in view the provisions of Section 9(1)(a) of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Section 60(2)(b) of Jammu &
The Delimitation Commission was constituted by the Central Government in the exercise of powers conferred by Section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 (33 of 2002), for the purpose of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Commission associated in its work, five members of Lok Sabha elected from the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. These Associate Members were nominated by the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
The Delimitation Commission was entrusted with the work of delimiting the Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of the 2011 Census and in accordance with the provisions of Part-V of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (34 of 2019) and the provisions of Delimitation Act, 2002(33 of 2002).
Having regard to relevant provisions of the Constitution (Article 330 and Article 332) and sub-sections (6) and (7) of Section 14 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, the number of seats to be reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was worked out on the basis of 2011 Census.
Accordingly, the Delimitation Commission has reserved nine ACs for STs for the first time and seven for SCs. The Constitution of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state did not provide for the reservation of seats for the STs in the Legislative Assembly.
The Commission had decided that Constituencies shall be delimited having regard to the administrative units i.e. Districts, Tehsils, Patwar Circles, etc, as in existence on 15-06-2020 and the Commission had communicated to the UT administration, not to disturb the administrative units as existing as on 15-06-2020 till the completion of the delimitation exercise in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
It was ensured by the Commission that every Assembly Constituency shall be contained entirely in one district and the lowest administrative units i.e. Patwar Circles (and Wards in Jammu Municipal Corporation) were not broken and were kept in a single Assembly Constituency.