J&K National Conference decides not to participate in impending delimitation exercise

In a massive development on Friday, May 29, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference has decided not to participate in the delimitation exercise to be conducted in the Union Territory of J&K. This was announced by Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, the chief spokesperson of the JKNC. He added that a detailed statement in this regard would be issued soon. This development comes two months after the Centre constituted a delimitation commission for the purpose of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. 

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What is the delimitation exercise? 

Referring to the demarcation of boundaries of Parliamentary or Assembly constituencies, the delimitation process is carried out at regular intervals to ensure that each constituency has approximately an equal number of voters. It is usually done when a state is divided which is the case with J&K, which was split into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. Elections have not been held in the state since the dissolution of the state Assembly on November 21, 2018. As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of J&K shall be increased from 107 to 114. The delimitation of the constituencies will be determined by the EC in accordance with multiple factors. 

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On February 18, 2020, the Ministry of Legislative Affairs requested Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to nominate a member to the “proposed” Delimitation Commission for J&K. Subsequently, the EC mentioned that Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra had been selected as the CEC’s nominee. As per the government notification dated March 6, retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai and the State Election Commissioner of the concerned state or Union Territory were appointed as the other two members of the Delimitation Commission. Justice (retd.) Desai's tenure shall be for a period of one year or until further orders, whichever is earlier. On May 26, three JKNC Lok Sabha MPs Farooq Abdullah, Hasnain Masoodi, Akbar Lone and two BJP MPs Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore were nominated by the Ministry of Home Affairs as associate members of the Delimitation Commission to assist the three-member panel.

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