Process Begins For Delimitation Exercise In J&K As Election Commissioner Announces Representative

The process has begun for the implementation of the delimitation of the Assembly constituencies in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora nominating Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra as his representative in the proposed delimitation commission for J&K, reports Indian Express.

This was made public by the Election Commission on Monday (17 February). Once the exercise is complete, the delimitation would thereafter pave the way for the first ever Assembly elections in J&K post the abrogation of Article 370 and bisection of Ladakh from the erstwhile State.

The appointment of the delimitation commission is expected to be made soon. The exercise though could take several months, and even a year. Meanwhile, it should be noted that Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah had announced it in the Parliament that the delimitation of Assembly constituencies would be performed on the basis of 2011 Census.

Shah had also announced in the Parliament that the number of seats in the Assembly of J&K would be raised from present 107 to 114. It should be noted though that 24 of the total seats in the Assembly remain continually vacant as they are allotted to regions which presently lie in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).