A delimitation based on the last Census would have increased the seats in Kashmir to 51 and 39 in Jammu. However, the Commission proposal leaves an average population of 1.45 lakh per constituency in Kashmir and 1.25 lakh in Jammu.
India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—The Supreme Court on February 13 dismissed a petition challenging the delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir.
A bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice A.S. Oka said the petitioners did not challenge the constitutional validity of a specific provision in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act.
On March 6, 2020, the Centre constituted a three-member panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice Ranjana Desai. Its two other members were Chief Election Commissioner and J&K’s State Election Commissioner.
It was entrusted with the work of delimiting the Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir based on the 2011 Census and by 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).
The Commission unveiled its final order on May 5, 2022, and allocated six additional seats to Jammu and one to Kashmir. It also reserved nine seats for scheduled tribes — six in the Jammu region and three in Kashmir.
Delimitation Commission has recommended 43 assembly seats for the Jammu division and 47 for the Kashmir region.
For the first time, nine Assembly Constituencies (ACs) have been reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, six of which are in the Jammu region and three in Kashmir. The constitution of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state had no provision for reserving seats for Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly.
The six new Assembly constituencies in the Jammu region are expected to be carved out from Rajouri, Doda, Udhampur, Kishtwar, Kathua, and Samba districts. The one new seat for the Kashmir Valley would reportedly be carved out from the Kupwara district.
Currently, there are 46 seats in the Kashmir region and 37 in the Jammu division.
“There are five Parliamentary Constituencies in the region. However, the Delimitation Commission has seen the Jammu & Kashmir region as one single union territory. Therefore, one of the Parliamentary Constituencies has been carved out, combining the Anantnag region in the Valley and the Rajouri and Poonch of the Jammu region. By this reorganization, each Parliamentary Constituency will have an equal number of 18 Assembly Constituencies each,” the order further said.
The Commission headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India), Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, and Election Commissioner of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir K.K. Sharma as Ex-Officio members of the Delimitation Commission met Thursday to finalize the Delimitation Order for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
In addition, there were many representations about the shifting of Tehsils from one AC( assembly constituency) to another. Some of them that the Commission found logical were accepted, such as the shifting of Tehsil Srigufwara from Pahalgam-AC to Bijbehara-AC, shifting of Kwarhama and Kunzar Tehsils to Gulmarg-AC and redrawing Wagoora-Kreeri-AC having Kareeri and Khoie tehsils and part of Wagoora and Tangmarg tehsils, shifting of Darhal Tehsil from Budhal-AC to Thannamandi-AC. Additionally, there were some requests for minor changes in the territorial jurisdiction of proposed ACs, which the Commission thoroughly analyzed, and a few of them, which were logical, have been incorporated into the final Order.
Delimitation exercises in J&K in the past have been slightly different from the rest of India because of J&K’s special status. Earlier, the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats in J&K was governed by the Constitution of India, but the delimitation of the state’s assembly seats was governed by the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution and Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957.
J&K Assembly had frozen the delimitation from 2001 to 2026. The Supreme Court upheld the decision. However, after scraping Article 370, the BJP ordered the formation of the Delimitation Commission and linked the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir with the completion of the exercise followed by elections. Delimitation in the past in J&K was done in 1963, 1973, and 1995 when the state was under President’s Rule.
The Commission has recommended increasing the number of assembly seats from 83 to 90, with six seats in Jammu. One each in Udhampur, Kathua, Samba, Doda, Kishtwar, and Rajouri, and only one Kupwara in Kashmir. The Commission has also reserved nine seats for Schedule Tribes (ST) and seven for Scheduled Castes (SC).
People’s Alliance For Gupkar Alliance (PAGD) accused the Commission of acting at BJP’s behest and ignoring that Kashmir’s population was 15 lahks more than Jammu according to the Census of 2011.
Before Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of statehood, it had 87 seats in the assembly: 46 in Kashmir, 37 in Jammu, and four in Ladakh. The J&K assembly also had 24 seats vacant for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on which elections were not held. According to the Census of 2011, Muslims in the former state constitute a majority, with 68 per cent. Kashmir accounts for 56 .2 per cent of the total population of 1.25 crores and Jammu 43.8 per cent.
The seat share of Kashmir was 55 .4 per cent, and Jammu’s 44.6 per cent. When the draft proposal is implemented, Kashmir’s seat share will come down to 52.2 per cent, while Jammu’s will rise to 47.8 per cent.
A delimitation based on the last Census would have increased the seats in Kashmir to 51 and 39 in Jammu. However, the Commission proposal leaves an average population of 1.45 lakh per constituency in Kashmir and 1.25 lakh in Jammu.
To overcome this imbalance, the Commission has adopted criteria rarely applied before. It has accorded primacy to hardships faced by the people in the Jammu border area due to treacherous terrain, remoteness, and shelling from Pakistan.
After the 1981 census, a delimitation commission was set up in J&K under the chairmanship of Justice J N Wazir. The Commission gave its final order in 1992, delimiting the total number of constituencies to 87 by increasing 11 seats. In 1995, the report was implemented, and five seats were increased in Jammu, four to Kashmir, and two to Ladakh. Nearly all SCs in Jammu and Kashmir are non-Muslims.
There are 15 Muslim majority seats in Jammu. However, their boundaries have been redrawn in a manner that they cease to be Muslim-majority constituencies. In that case, that will reduce the representation of Muslims from Jammu in the assembly from districts like Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Poonch, and parts of Banihal and Reasi.
Delimitation has been undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir when it doesn’t have an assembly to represent the people, and the five associate members of the Commission do not have any voting rights.
Kashmir has more population than Jammu. But a large chunk of the area in Jammu falls in Muslim majority Pir Panjal and Chenab valley hill districts. The Hindu population is concentrated around Jammu-Samba-Kathua and parts of the Udhampur belt. They want a share that is hugely disproportionate to the overall Hindu population (28 per cent) in J&K.
In Jammu province, 15 of these constituencies are Muslim majority. Although Jammu province has a 62.5 per cent Hindu population, they are concentrated around the Jammu-Samba-Kathua belt and parts of the Udhampur district. Political observers opine that if terrain, remoteness, and hostility from Pakistan are criteria in delimitation, then north Kashmir’s border districts of Baramulla, Kupwara, and Bandipora are worse off than those of Jammu.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said they have already rejected the delimitation exercise.
“We have said earlier also that delimitation was tactical pre-poll rigging. We did not participate in delimitation commission proceedings. BJP has converted majority into minority and minority into a majority through delimitation,” said Mehbooba.
