Srinagar: The Central government is likely to give extension to the delimitation constitution empowered by it to draw boundaries for Assembly segments in Jammu & Kashmir, sources told Precious Kashmir.
Sources in the Election Commission of India and delimitation panel disclosed that Union Law Ministry is expected to extend the tenure of Justice( retd) Ranjana Desai as head of the panel, which otherwise was set to end on March 0.
“The commission’s work was badly affected by lockdown imposed by central government after the outbreak of coronavirus. It is likely to get extension,” they said.
The commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge was constituted on March 6 last year to delimit the constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, and of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in accordance with the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002.
The appointment of Justice (retd) Desai will be for a period of one year or till further orders, whichever is earlier, the notification said.
According to the notification, the tenure of Justice(retd.) Desai was for a period of one year or till further orders, whichever is earlier.
Apart from Justice (retd) Desai, Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner K K Sharma are members of the panel which has been empowered to fix boundaries for 90 Assembly and five parliamentary seats of J&K.
Under the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Act-2019, the panel has also been assigned to reserve seats for schedule castes and schedule tribes in 90 Assembly segments of J&K.
As already by this newspaper, the delimitation panel held its maiden meeting with associate members (MPs) from Jammu and Kashmir.
While three NC MPs boycotted the meeting, both Lok Sabha MPs of BJP from J&K UT attended the meeting.
NC has decided to boycott the panel and even urged Justice Desai not to go ahead with the delimitation process as the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 is under judicial scrutiny.
“In our view, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 is palpably unconstitutional and has been enacted in disregard and violation of mandate and spirit of the Constitution of India and therefore not to be acted upon,” the MPs said in the letter.