REDRAWING THE MAP

J&K DELIMITATION

- Moazum Mohammad

Two years after New Delhi set the delimitation exercise in motion in Jammu and Kashmir, the commission set up for the task submitted its report on May 5. The panel’s main recommendation was six new seats for Jammu, which will now have 43 in the assembly while Kashmir’s share goes up to 47 with an extra seat. The extra weightage to Jammu has naturally invited criticism from J&K’s main political parties who see it as another attempt by the ruling BJP at the Centre to undermine them.

The delimitation process, mandated to fix boundaries of territorial constituencies, comes as part of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019. Every political party except for the BJP had opposed the exercise. Led by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, the three-member commission was appointed in March 2020. Five MPs—three from the National Conference (NC) and two from the BJP—were associate members.

Following the implementation of the Act, the total number of assembly seats was increased to 114 from 107. Of these, 90 seats are for J&K while the remaining 24 are for Pakistan-occupied Kash mir (PoK). The six new segments in Jammu are in the districts of Kathua, Reasi, Doda, Rajouri, Kishtwar and Samba; and for Kashmir in Kupwara. Instead of relying only on population, the de facto main criteria for delimitation, the panel also took into consideration geography and topography (see The New Order).