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J&K Delimitation Commission Bill coming

Staff Reporter

With their regional profiles, parties divided on issue

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir government will bring in a bill on constitution of a Delimitation Commission to go into redrawing the territorial constituencies for the Assembly.

For the past several days the issue dominated House proceedings, leading to adjournment and pandemonium. Responding to Opposition concerns, Health Minister Mangat Ram Sharma said, “We have decided in concurrence with our ally, the People’s Democratic Party, that a bill be brought in in the present session for the constitution of the Delimitation Commission.”

However, it is unlikely that the bill will be passed this session as Kashmir-based parties are against any change in status quo. Moreover, any amendment will require the support of two-thirds of the 87-member Assembly.

The issue has vertically divided political parties based on their regional profile. The Jammu-based Panthers Party and Bharatiya Janata Party argue that this region, in spite of a bigger voter strength, has 37 only seats compared to 46 in the Kashmir Valley.

The Kashmir-based parties contend that various census reports have conclusively proved that the population in the Valley is more than Jammu.

According to Section 47 of the J&K Constitution, the Assembly will consist of 111 seats with members chosen by a direct election from territorial constituencies. These include 28 seats in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which, according to Section 48, shall remain vacant and shall not be taken into account for reckoning the total membership of the House. The PoK area shall be excluded for delimitation.

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