Delimitation of Constituencies in J&K

• The Election Commission held internal discussions on the delimitation of constituencies ahead of elections to the new Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Resizing new constituencies

• According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the UT of J&K would be increased from 107 to 114.
• The total population would be divided over the 114 seats to get an average number of electors per constituency.
• The Act also specifies that delimitation will be based on the 2011 census till 2026.

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Delimitation Commission of India

• The Delimitation commission or Boundary commission of India is a commission established by the Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.
• The main task of the commission is redrawing the boundaries of the various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on a recent census.
• The representation from each State is not changed during this exercise. However, the numbers of SC and ST seats in a state are changed in accordance with the census.
• The present delimitation of constituencies has been done on the basis of 2001 census under the provisions of Delimitation Act, 2002.
• The Commission is a independent body whose orders cannot be challenged in any court of law.
• The orders are laid before the Lok Sabha and the respective State Legislative Assemblies. However, modifications are not permitted.
• Delimitation commissions have been set up four times in the past — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 — under Delimitation Commission Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.
• The most recent delimitation commission was set up on 12 July 2002 after the 2001 census with Justice Kuldip Singh, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court as its Chairperson.