Jammu and Kashmir delimitation as per 2011 Census, 7 seats to be increased: CEC Sushil Chandra

The delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir will be done as per the 2011 Census, said Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra. He added that 24 Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) seats will remain vacant and will be not be included in this delimitation.

According to the 2011 Census, the population in Jammu is 53,78,538 and in Kashmir, it is 68,88,475.

Chandra said that the first full-fledged delimitation commission was formed in 1981 and submitted its recommendation after 14 years in 1995. It was based on the 1981 census.

“Thereafter, no delimitation has taken place,” the CEC said.

Taking all the demands and recommendations into account, he said, a draft will be prepared and put in the public domain for their comments.

“After seeing all the comments, the final draft (on Delimitation exercise) will be prepared,” Chandra told reporters in Delhi.

“There is an overlapping of districts as well as the tehsils in Constituencies. All such facts indicate that the public faces inconvenience due to such anomalies. In 1995, there were 12 districts. The number has gone up to 20 now. The number of tehsils has gone up from 58 to 270. In 12 districts, constituency boundaries are extended beyond the district’s limit,” he said.

The Delimitation Commission arrived in J&K on Thursday and interacted with dozens of political leaders and civil society groups to get inputs on the exercise to redraw electoral constituencies in the union territory. The commission met leaders from the National Conference (NC), Peoples Conference, CPI, CPI(M), Panthers Party, Congress, BJP, Apni Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.

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