The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir has submitted its report. From the things recommended by the commission in the report, one thing has become clear that this will completely change the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. For the first time, the provision of reservation for Kashmiri Pandits and Scheduled Tribes has been included. After the recent film The Kashmir Files on Kashmiri Pandits, the mention of Kashmiri migrants in the commission’s report is a big deal.
In the report of the Delimitation Commission, six assembly seats have been increased in Jammu division and one assembly seat in Kashmir division. Altogether 37 seats have been recommended for Jammu division and 47 assembly seats for Kashmir. However, seven assembly seats have been reserved for Scheduled Castes as before.
After the report of the Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, it is believed that assembly elections can be held in the month of November this year. The mathematics that has been decided by the Delimitation Commission for Assembly and Lok Sabha seats is as follows-
Total Lok Sabha seats: 5
Total Assembly seats: 90
Kashmir Division : 47
Jammu Division: 43
SC: 07
ST : 09
Kashmiri Pandit: 02
18 assembly seats in each Lok Sabha
The Delimitation Commission in its report has kept 18 assembly seats in each Lok Sabha seat. Before becoming a union territory, Jammu and Kashmir had 87 seats in the Legislative Assembly, including four from Ladakh. After the separation of Ladakh, the number of these seats was reduced to 83 seats, which will now be 90 after the report of the commission. At the same time, earlier there were Baramulla, Anantnag, Srinagar in Kashmir division and Udhampur Doda and Jammu assembly seats in Jammu division. Now Anantnag seat will become Anantnag-Rajori Poonch in the final report of the Delimitation Commission. Under this, two districts Rajori and Poonch from Jammu seat have been included in Anantnag.
When was the first delimitation
The last delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir was done in 1995. At that time there were 12 districts and 58 tehsils in Jammu and Kashmir. At present there are 20 districts and 270 tehsils in Jammu and Kashmir. The delimitation done in 1995 was based on the 1981 census. This time the Delimitation Commission has prepared its final report on the basis of 2011 census.
Jammu is Hindu majority and Kashmir is Muslim majority
Kashmir is Muslim majority and Jammu Hindu majority. So BJP is expected to get benefit in Jammu. At the same time, PDP and NC have a good hold in the valley. The leaders of the National Conference, who have been in power for a long time in the Valley, have been raising questions about the report of the Delimitation Commission. They say that the Jammu division is small, so the assembly seats should not be increased here. The big reason behind this is the 2014 assembly elections. At that time BJP had emerged as the single largest party by winning 25 seats (out of 37). It has been seen in the elections so far that even after performing better in the Valley, the government was formed, but after increasing the seats, it will become necessary to win more and more seats in Jammu as well. Because of this, it is natural for the political equation to change.