Jammu & Kashmir, 5th May 2022: The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir has submitted its report. For the first time, the provision of reservation has included Kashmiri Pandits and Scheduled Tribes. After the recent film, The Kashmir Files which was based on Kashmiri Pandits, the mention of Kashmiri migrants in the commission’s report is a big deal.
In the report of the Delimitation Commission, six assembly seats have been increased in the Jammu division and one assembly seat in the Kashmir division. Altogether 37 seats have been recommended for the Jammu division and 47 assembly seats for Kashmir. However, seven assembly seats have been reserved for Scheduled Castes as before.
After the report of the Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, it is believed that assembly elections can be held in November this year. The order that has been decided by the Delimitation Commission for Assembly and Lok Sabha seats is as follows-
Total Lok Sabha seats: 5
Total Assembly seats: 90
Kashmir Division: 47
Jammu Division: 43
SC: 07
ST: 09
Kashmiri Pandit: 02
The Delimitation Commission in its report has kept 18 assembly seats in each Lok Sabha seat. Before becoming a union territory, Jammu and Kashmir had 87 seats in the Legislative Assembly, including four from Ladakh. After the separation of Ladakh, the number of these seats was reduced to 83 seats, which will now be 90 after the report of the commission.
Earlier there were Baramulla, Anantnag, and Srinagar in the Kashmir division and Udhampur Doda and Jammu assembly seats in the Jammu division. Now in the final report of the Delimitation Commission, the Anantnag seat will become Anantnag-Rajouri Poonch. Under this, two districts Rajori and Poonch from Jammu seat have been included in Anantnag.
The last delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir was done in 1995. At that time there were 12 districts and 58 tehsils in Jammu and Kashmir. At present, there are 20 districts and 270 tehsils in Jammu and Kashmir. The delimitation done in 1995 was based on the 1981 census. This time the Delimitation Commission has prepared its final report based on the 2011 census.