The Limitations Commission led by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, (retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India), and Shs. Sushil Chandra, (Chief Electoral Commissioner) and Shs. K. K. Sharma, (Regional Electoral Commission, Jammu Union and Kashmir Union), as members of the Ex-Officers of the Delimitation Determination Commission today to finalize the Jammu and Kashmir Union Determination Zone. A similar Gazette notice has been published today.
According to the final decree, the following will take effect from the date on which the Central Government will be notified of the 90 Assembly Assembly Offices in the region, 43 of which will be part of Jammu district and 47 will be part of the Kashmir region. the provisions of Section 9 (1) (a) of the Determination Act, 2002 and Section 60 (2) (b) of the Jammu & Kashmir Reform Act, 2019 ,9ACs reserved for STs, of which, 6 in Jammu district and 3 ACs in the District.
There are five Parliamentary constituencies in this constituency. The Demarcation Commission recognized the Jammu and Kashmir counties as one Union area. Therefore, one of the Parliamentary constituencies was compiled into the Anantnag District District and the Rajouri&Poonch District of Jammu. With this reorganization each Parliamentary constituency will have an equal number of 18 Electoral Districts each.It may be recalled that the Boundaries Commission was established by the Government. of India, by exercising the powers conferred on it by Article 3 of the Determination Act, 2002 (33 of 2002), for the purpose of determining the seats of the Council and Parliament in the Jammu and Kashmir Union territories.
Boundaries Commission in J&K
The Boundaries Commission was tasked with determining the boundaries of the Legislature and Constituencies of the UT in Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of the 2011 Census and in accordance with the provisions of Part V of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 With regard to the relevant provisions of the Constitution (Article 330 and Article 332) and subsections (6) and (7) of Section 14 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reform Act 2019, the number of seats to be reserved for Organized Categories (SC) and Nations Plans (STs) in the Jammu and Kashmir Union Local Law Enforcement Council are based on the 2011 census.
Considering the geographical features, means of communication, whichcommunity service, geographical compatibility as set out in Section 9 (1) of the Demarcation Act, 2002 and the views collected during the Commission’s visit to UT from 6 to 9 July 2021, the Commission divided all regions 20 in three broad categories namely A. – Highly hilly and difficult constituencies, B constituencies with Hill & Flat and C-District constituencies.The Commission decided that the Districts would be determined by looking at the administrative units namely the Districts, Tehsils, Patwar Conventions, etc
All public submissions, in writing or orally during public meetings and submissions from various stakeholders, were submitted by the Office of the Secretary to the Commission. These name changes include naming Tangmarg-AC as Gulmarg-AC, Zoonimar-AC as Zaidibal-AC, Sonwar-AC as LalChowk-AC, Padder-AC as Padder-Nagseni -AC, Kathua North-AC as Jasrota-AC, Kathua South-AC as Kathua-AC, Khour-AC as Chhamb-AC, Mahore-AC as AC, i -Darhal-AC as Budhal-AC, etc.
In addition to this, there were several submissions regarding the transfer of Tehsils from one AC to another and some of which the Commission found reasonable were accepted, namely; removal of Tehsil Shrigufwara from Pahalagam-AC to Bijbehara-AC, removal of Kwarhama and Kunzar Tehsils to Gulmarg-AC and redistribution of Wagoora-Kreeri-AC to Kareeri and Khoie tehsils and and part of Wagoora and Tangmarg tehsils, removal of Darhal Tehsil-AC to Thannamandi-AC.
The demarcation of Council and Parliamentary constituencies in the Jammu and Kashmir Union areas has been a daunting task. The commission visited UT in Jammu and Kashmir twice. During the first visit, the Commission contacted about 242 delegates in four locations, namely Srinagar, Pahalgam, Kishtwar and Jammu. About 1600 people were present and expressed their views at the Public Meetings held in Jammu and Srinagar on 4 and 5 April 2022 respectively, during the second visit of the UT Commission to Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmiri immigrant community
During the public hearing, the Commission received a number of submissions from Kashmiri immigrants and people displaced from Pakistan live in Jammu and Kashmir. The Dismissed People from PoJK also asked the Commission to reserved a few seats for them at the J&K Legal Conference. Therefore, the Boundaries Commission also makes the following recommendations to the Central Government The provision of at least two members (one of whom must be a woman) from the Kashmiri immigrant community in the Legislative Assembly and those members may be empowered by the delegated members of the Legislative Assembly of Union Territory of Puducherry & The Central Government may consider granting expulsion from Pakistan living in Jammu and Kashmir some representation in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, through the appointment of deported representatives. from Pakistan Lived in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was recorded in the former Province of Jammu and Kashmir by the Jammu and Kashmir Reform Act, 2019 (34 of 2019), which was passed by Parliament. The determination of Assembly seats in the former province of Jammu and Kashmir was governed by the Jammu and Kashmir Regional Constitution and Jammu and the Kashmir Representation of the People Act 1957. Council seats in the former province of Jammu and Kashmir were last divided in 1995 based on the 1981 Census.
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