new Delhi. A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the March 2020 decision of the Central Government to appoint a Delimitation Commission to re-delineate the constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir. The petition, filed by Haji Abdul Ghani Khan and Dr. Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, residents of Kashmir, has sought a direction to declare that increasing the number of seats in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir from 107 to 114 is in violation of constitutional provisions.
The petition said that the increase in the number of seats in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir from 107 to 114 was made under constitutional provisions such as Articles 81, 82, 170, 330 and 332 and specifically under Sections of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. Contrary to the statutory provisions under 63.
The petition also urged the apex court to issue directions regarding declaring the notification dated March 6, 2020 delimiting the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland for violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. The Delimitation Commission was constituted to delimit the form.
The petition states, “Indeed, in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the census work was completed in 2001, but the delimitation was done in 1995. Accordingly, the entire procedure adopted is unconstitutional as during 2011 the Jammu and Kashmir No population census operation was conducted for Kashmir.”
The plea argued that if the state of Jammu and Kashmir were to be united with India on August 5, 2019, the delimitation process negates the ‘new order’ of one nation and one constitution in the country. It said, “While Article 170 of the Constitution of India provides that the next delimitation in the country will be done after 2026, why has the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir been chosen for this?”
The petition states that after the 2001 Census, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly amended ‘Section 47’ of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution under the Jammu and Kashmir (29th Amendment) Act, 2002, so as to conform to Article 170 of the Indian Constitution. And accordingly, the delimitation exercise can be stopped after 2026.
The petition further said, “The issuance of notification of appointment of the Delimitation Commission by the Law and Legislative Department is without jurisdiction, unconstitutional and ultra vires (overridden) of the election laws other than the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019.”
The petition states that any move to increase the number of seats in Jammu and Kashmir must be preceded by a constitutional amendment.
It said that the Delimitation Commission had issued guidelines and methodology for the delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies on July 5, 2004, along with constitutional and legal provisions. According to the petition, “It is expressly stated that the total number of existing seats in the Legislative Assemblies of all the States including the National Capital Territory of Pondicherry and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, as decided on the basis of the 1971 Census, shall be It will remain unchanged until the first census that follows.”
—AnyTV News
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