Tahir Sheikh
It refers to the process of demarcation of the boundaries of parliamentary or assembly constituencies. Carried out after every census ensuring each constituency has approximately an equal no. of voters. Due to the political sensitivity, no government either central or state can carry it out. A Delimitation commission is constituted by Parliament which enacts Delimitation Act under Article 82 of the constitution. Even Parliament cannot suggest any modifications to an order issued by the commission.
It is to provide equal representation for equal population segments and a fair division of geographical areas so that no political party has an advantage.It is appointed by the President of India and works in the collaboration with the election commission of India.Its member are a serving or retired judge of Supreme court , Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners of the representative state.Its function is to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies, to identify seats reserved for the SC/ST.
J&K assembly had 107 MLAs before the enactment of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, which bifurcates the erstwhile state. The law increased the strength of the assembly in the newly carved Union Territory to 114. This also includes 24 seats falling under Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK). The effective strength of Jammu and Kashmir assembly when elected will increase to 90. Earlier it was 83.J&K does not have an elected government after the Mehbooba Mufti government fell in June 2018. Since the number of constituencies has altered the boundaries of the existing constituencies and it need to be redrawn before assembly election could be held in Jammu and Kashmir.
The present-day J&K is way different from that of 2014. Central government has nullified the Article 370 which has been welcomed by several section in Jammu and Kashmir.Now the Jammu and Kashmir both have equal opportunity to form their government in the J&K.The Kashmir region which is dominated by separatists parties who are not in sync with Indian leadership will have competition from other parties, with the delimitation the scenario will change in Kashmir and other parties including the parties of Jammu region will come up and put their stand for making government in the region.The increase in seats for the Jammu region is a welcome step. However, the history tells us that hegemony of Kashmir over Jammu may persist in the coming times till the time Jammu is not politically on par with Kashmir. With this a mechanism to offer representation to various minorities of Jammu and Kashmir in the new Assembly will also come up.
The Delimitation will shape the political trajectory of Jammu and Kashmir in the post Article 370 order.
Delimitation is crucial for starting the political process in J&K that would eventually leads to elections. This will help in sharing equal weightage of votes in all three places Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir by giving equal opportunity in government. The purpose is to unite the population and to respect the votes of the people and representatives elected by them at the same time to respect the democracy of the country.
