‘Centre may consider representation to PoJK refugees’
Names of many constituencies changed, tehsils shifted
9 seats reserved for STs, 7 SCs; no reservation in LS
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 5: The Delimitation Commission today finalized recommendations for delimitation of 90 Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir just a day ahead of expiry of its twice extended term in which it changed names of some Assembly constituencies and shifted few Tehsils and Patwar Halqas from one segment to another on the basis of suggestions obtained after draft report and made significant recommendation for nomination of two Kashmiri migrants including a woman to the Legislative Assembly.
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As far as refugees of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) are concerned , the Commission recommended that the Central Government may consider giving the displaced persons of PoJK some representation in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly by way of nomination of their representatives.
A gazette notification has been issued for the report after it was finalized by the Commission. The report has been submitted to the Union Law Ministry.
The Commission kept nine Assembly constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and seven for Scheduled Castes (SC) in the House of 90. While all seven SC reserved seats fall in Jammu division, out of nine constituencies reserved for STs, six are in Jammu region and three in Kashmir division. This means 13 out of 16 seats reserved for SCs and STs fall in Jammu and only three in Kashmir.
The Commission has already given 47 Assembly seats to Kashmir division, increase of one seat and 43 constituencies to Jammu region, up by six segments, as compared to the last Assembly which was dissolved in 2018 and since then Jammu and Kashmir is without an elected House.
The Delimitation Commission headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai and comprising Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner (SEC) KK Sharma signed the final report today taking a time of two years and two months to finalize the recommendations.
“During the public hearing, the Commission received number of representations from the Kashmiri migrants and displaced persons from PoJK. The Kashmiri migrants represented that they were persecuted and forced to live in exile as refugees in their own country for last three decades. It was urged that in order to preserve their political rights, seats may be reserved for them in J&K Assembly and Parliament. The displaced persons from PoJK also requested the Commission to reserve few seats for them,” the Commission pointed out.
Accordingly, the Commission said, it was recommending to the Central Government the provision of at least two members (one of them must be a female) from the community of Kashmiri migrants in the Legislative Assembly. Such members may be given power at par with nominated members of the Legislative Assembly of Puducherry.
It may be mentioned that nominated members of Puducherry Assembly have right to vote.
However, on PoJK refugees, the Panel said the Central Government may consider giving the displaced persons from PoJK some representation in J&K Assembly, by way of nomination to their representatives.
After draft proposals, the Commission conducted final round of internal meetings to examine suggestions and changed names of some of the Assembly constituencies including Padder as Padder-Nagseni (Kishtwar district), Kathua North as Jasrota, Kathua South as Kathua (Kathua district), Khour as Chhamb (Jammu district), Mahore as Gulabgarh (Reasi district) and Darhal as Budhal (Rajouri district), all in Jammu region.
In Kashmir division, Tangmarg constituency has been renamed as Gulmarg, Zoonimar as Zadibal and Sonwar as Lal Chowk.
The Panel also accepted some representation pertaining to shifting of tehsils from one Assembly constituency to another.
In Jammu division, Darhal tehsil has been shifted from Budhal Assembly segment to Thanna Mandi while in Kashmir Srigufwara tehsil has been shifted from Pahalgam to Bijbehara, Kwarhama and Kunzar tehsils to Gulmarg and redrawing Wagoora-Kreeri Assembly seat having Kareeri and Khole tehsils and part of Wagoora and Tangmarg tehsils.
“Additionally, there were some requests for minor changes in the territorial jurisdiction of proposed Assembly seats which were thoroughly analyzed in the Commission and a few of them, which were logical have been incorporated in the final order,” the Panel said.
Before the restructuring, which takes the total number of assembly seats in the Union Territory to 90, Jammu had 37 Assembly constituencies and Kashmir 46.
Besides, for the first time, nine seats have been proposed for Scheduled Tribes — six in Jammu and three in the Valley — following consultations with representatives of political parties, citizens and civil society groups. Seven seats have been reserved for Scheduled Castes which was the case in the previous Assembly as well.
The Panel has redrawn the Anantnag Parliamentary constituency in Kashmir by adding the Rajouri and Poonch Assembly seats that fall in Jammu region. There are five Parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory with each having 18 Assembly seats.
Five Parliamentary seats include Baramulla, Srinagar, Anantnag-Rajouri, Udhampur and Jammu. None of them is reserved either for SCs or for STs.
“There are five Parliamentary constituencies in the region. 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 Anantnag region in the Valley and Rajouri and Poonch of Jammu region. By this reorganisation, each Parliamentary constituency will have an equal number of 18 Assembly constituencies,” the Commission’s statement said.
“The Delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir had been a challenging task and the Commission visited the Union Territory twice during which it interacted with delegations as well as officials,” an official statement issued by the Delimitation Commission said.
“The peculiar geo-cultural landscape of the Union Territory presented unique issues arising due to factors like competing political aspirations of the geographically and culturally distinctive regions,” it said.
It may be recalled that the Delimitation Commission was constituted by the Government of India, in exercise of powers conferred by Section 3 of Delimitation Act, 2002 (33 of 2002), for the purpose of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu & 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 Election Commission said.
“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. It is worthwhile to mention here that the Constitution of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State did not provide for reservation of seats for the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly,” the Commission’s statement said.
“The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 and Delimitation Act, 2002 laid down the broad parameters within which the delimitation exercise was to be carried out. However, the Commission formulated guidelines and methodology for delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, for smooth functioning and effective results, and the same were followed during the delimitation process,” said the statement.
It added that the Commission had decided that the constituencies shall be delimited with 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 single Assembly constituency.
The Commission took extreme care in identifying the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly and to locate seats to be reserved for these communities, as far as practicable, in areas where the proportion of their population to the total population is the largest, by working out the percentage of Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes population in each Assembly constituency and identifying the requisite number of reserved constituencies by arranging them in descending order,” the statement added.
Seats reserved for STs
Gulabgarh (Reasi district), Rajouri, Budhal and Thanna Mandi (Rajouri district), Surankote and Mendhar (Poonch district); all in Jammu region, Gurez (Bandipora), Kangan (Ganderbal) and Kokernag (Anantnag) district, all in Kashmir division.
SC reserve constituencies
Ramnagar (Udhampur district), Kathua (Kathua district), Ramgarh (Samba), Bishnah, Suchetgarh, Marh and Akhnoor (Jammu district), all in Jammu region.
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