Centre amends notification after his elevation
By: Ibni Maqbool
Srinagar: Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra would continue as ex-officio member of the delimitation commission constituted by the Government of India last year for fixing boundaries of Assembly segments of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory.
The Union Law and Justice Ministry has amended its March 6, 2020 notification to pave way for continuation of Sushil Chandra as ex-officio member of the three-member panel.
Chandra was member of the ECI on February 18 when he was nominated as ex-officio member of the delimitation commission by then Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora. Chandra was himself appointed as CEC in April this year.
Under clause (b) of section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, the chief election commissioner or an election commissioner nominated by the chief election commissioner shall be an ex-officio member of the delimitation commission.
“Sushil Chandra was appointed as ex-officio member of the panel when he was member of the ECI. After his elevation, it became necessary to amend the notification,” an official told this newspaper.
On March 6, 2020, the Government of India constituted a three-member panel for fixing boundaries for 90 Assembly seats of J&K and reserving seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
The panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Desai also comprises of J&K’s State Election Commissioner Kewal Kumar Sharma, apart from Chandra.
Five MPs from J&K are also associate members of the delimitation commission. Of them, two are from BJP and three from National Conference.
NC had earlier decided to stay away from proceedings of the panel citing that the Commission was product of The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Act which it had challenged before the Supreme Court. But its five-member team recently met the delimitation commission when it visited J&K to meet different stakeholders to collect inputs for the exercise.
