Delimitation Commission to visit Jammu & Kashmir, meet parties

INTERNATIONAL DESK : The Delimitation Commission, tasked to carve out new constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir, will be on a four-day visit to the Union territory from July 6 to 9 to hold talks with political parties, district officials and other stakeholders and gather “first hand information” on the ongoing process of redrawing the boundaries there, Hindustan Times reports.

“During this period, the commission will interact with political parties, public representatives and Union Territory administration officials, including district election officers/deputy commissioners of the 20 districts of the Union territory to gather first-hand information and inputs concerning the ongoing process of delimitation as mandated under the (Jammu &) Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019,” the commission said in a statement.

The commission, which was constituted in March 2020 to redraw the Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of J&K, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland, is headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.

Chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and election commissioners of J&K and the three states are ex-officio members of the commission.

On June 26, HT reported that the commission was planning to hold interactions with the stakeholders in Jammu & Kashmir. The commission, which has nearly nine months left to complete the exercise, will also carve constituencies to be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for the first time in J&K.

The constituencies will be created on the basis of “physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience”.

“There are considerations of a geographical nature, such as access in hilly districts. The commission will have to ensure that the most basic administrative block, whether it is the tehsil or the district, is not broken down in the process. This way there can be seamless elections and effective implementation of government schemes,” a person familiar with the matter said on June 26.

The issue of delimitation was discussed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with political leaders from J&K last week. Modi had stressed that the delimitation exercise was required to happen quickly so that polls can be held.