J-K Assembly Election: How Delimitation Changed Electoral Landscape In Jammu-Kashmir | Explained

J-K Assembly Election 2024: Assembly elections will be held in Jammu Kashmir later this year. The 90 Assembly constituencies spread across the union territory will go to the polls in three phases starting September 18, the Election Commission announced on Friday. The counting of votes will be held on October 4, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar informed.

This will be the first Assembly election in present-day Jammu and Kashmir, a union territory (UT) that came into existence after the bifurcation of the state of the same name in 2019. The undivided Jammu and Kashmir witnessed its last Assembly polls in 2014.

However, things will be vastly different this time on account of the delimitation exercise carried out in J-K after it transitioned into a union territory. The commission constituted by the Centre for the exercise submitted its final report on May 5, 2022.

WHAT IS DELIMITATION?

Delimitation refers to the redrawing of boundaries of territorial constituencies on the basis of change in population in a country or a province having a legislative body. Given the fact that a state's population forms the basis of the allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha, delimitation is carried out taking into account the data gathered during a prior census.

In the case discussed herein, the need for delimitation arose after J-K was carved out as a union territory in 2019. The primary reason behind the delimitation was to clearly define the boundaries of Assembly constituencies in the newly formed union territory. The other UT that was carved out of the state of J-K was Ladakh.

SOME KEY CHANGES INTRODUCED BY J-K DELIMITATION PANEL

On May 5, 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission notified new names, numbers, and boundaries of Assembly constituencies in the union territory of J-K. Here are some of the key changes that have been introduced by the latest delimitation in J-K:

- The five Lok Sabha constituencies across J-K now have an equal number of Assembly constituencies within them.

- Keeping aside the seats designated for areas in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the total seats in the J-K Assembly stands at 90, as against the 87 prior to the delimitation notified in 2022.  

- For the first time, nine Assembly seats across J-K have been reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (STs). Of the remaining seats, 74 are unreserved and seven are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs)

- Of the nine ACs reserved for STs, six fall in Jammu and three in Kashmir.

- Of the 90 ACs in J-K, 43 fall under the Jammu sector and 47 under the Kashmir sector.

- The boundaries of all Assembly constituencies have been contained within the boundaries of the districts they fall under.