Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir delimitation commission’s order on electoral segments in the Union Territory came into effect from Friday after the Central government issued the notification in this regard.
Union Ministry of Law and Justice on Friday issued a notification declaring May 20 as the date on which the order of the delimitation commission shall come into effect.
The notification issued by the ministry reads as:
“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 62 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (34 of 2019), the Central Government hereby appoints the 20th day of May, 2022, as the date on which the orders of the Delimitation Commission, Order No. 1, dated the 14th March, 2022 and Order No. 2, dated the 5th May, 2022, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (iii), vide numbers O.N. 6 (E), dated the 14th March, 2022, and O.N. 17 (E), dated the 05th May, 2022, respectively, shall take effect.”
The delimitation commission was headed by justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai, former chief election commissioner of India, Sushil Chandra, and J&K election commissioner, K.K. Gupta.
In its reorganisation of electoral segments, the commission has delimited 90 assembly seats for J&K out of which 47 are for the Kashmir division 43 for Jammu division.
For the first time, 9 seats have been reserved for scheduled tribe (ST) candidates and 7 for the scheduled caste (SC) candidates.
Two seats will be nominated out of the Kashmiri Pandit community and in a significant development, both members thus nominated would have voting rights like the elected members.
The commission has not made any delimitation for the 24 seats reserved for the Pakistan occupied part of Jammu and Kashmir.