SHIMLA: Finally Jammu and Kashmir UT will have 90 assembly seats 47 in the Kashmir region and 43 in the Jammu region, according to the notification issued by the government today. The government has shown 24 seats of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir as "Vacant", setting a new diplomatic tone in the POK.
Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission was chaired by Ranjana Prakash Desai and submitted its report to the government, which issued notification today.
The six new assembly constituencies in the Jammu regions have been carved out from Rajouri, Doda, Udhampur, Kishtwar, Kathua and Sambha districts. The one new seat for Kashmir valley has been carved out from the Kupwara district, said the notification.
Nine Seats for SC and ST
As many as nine seats have been reserved for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribal population of the UT.
It is for the first time that all the five parliamentary constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir will have equal number of state assembly seats, according to the notification.
It is the for the first time, the delimitation panel has created a new political unit in Jammu region and Kashmir valley by merging the parts of Rajouri-Poonch areas with Kashmir’s Anantnag parliamentary segment.
Commission has also created Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat in the trans-Pir Panjal region. It has three districts of Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian in South Kashmir and two districts of Rajouri and Poonch of Jammu region.
The commission has renamed two constituencies as Tangmarg and Kunzer from Sangrama constituency and Baramula district. Gulmarg has been restored as constituency while Sangrama has been renamed as Wagroora-Kreeri constituency.
There are reports that this was being done to give advantage to the BJP allies in the trans-region. But the commission as per notification said that it was done because the delimitation panel treated entire Jammu and Kashmir as a single entity for the whole exercise.
POK Seats Vacant
The commission stated that there are 24 seats in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir that will continue to remain vacant. The government has set a new diplomatic tone in the disputed POK, said the sources.
After recording the objections of the political parties of Jammu and Kashmir, election commission of India and state election commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir took up the recommendations of the Delimitation penal.
The panel had started the exercise about two years ago and toured the UT and carried out a wide consultation in Jammu and Kashmir before making its recommendations.
