By TIOL News Service  

NEW DELHI, FEB 19, 2021: THE Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir held its first meeting on Thursday to seek suggestions and views on the process of redrawing the constituencies in the Union Territory (UT), said the Election Commission.

An overview on the process of delimitation based on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 and Delimitation Act, 2002 was presented before the two associate members who attended the meeting.

The commission comprises of chairperson and retired Justice Ms Ranjana Prakash Desai, Election Commissioner Mr Sushil Chandra, J&K's State Election Commissioner Mr KK Sharma. The meeting was attended by associate members Union Minister Mr Jitendra Singh and BJP MP from Jammu, Mr Jugal Kishore Sharma, with all three National Conference members, led by party president Mr Farooq Abdullah skipping the meeting.

"While the Delimitation Commission had sent written intimation to all five Associated Members namely Mr Farooq Abdullah, Mr Mohammad Akbar Lone, Mr Hasnain Masoodi,Mr Jugal Kishore Sharma and Mr Jitendra Singh on February 5, 2021 itself, only two members attended today's meeting," said the commission.

The two members appreciated the Commission's efforts and suggested that delimitation of constituencies should be practical for geographically compact areas. They recommended that while delimiting, special regard shall be given to physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience.

They also suggested to give special attention to the difficult terrains while carrying out the delimitation exercise.

The absent members of the Commission had informed the chairman of their inability to associate with the Commission and the process.

"In our view, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 is palpably unconstitutional and has been enacted in disregard and violation of mandate and spirit of the Constitution of India and therefore not to be acted upon," the MPs had said in the letter.

Calling the process unconstitutional, they asked for the chairman to not go ahead with the proceedings.

According to the disputed act, the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly were to be increased from 107 to 114, of which 24 are in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). So effectively, the seats will go up from 83 to 90.