The government on Tuesday did not state directly and clearly whether it was planning to conduct a delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP AsaduddinOwaisi and Ajay (Teni) Misra, BJP MP from Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, raised questionin the Lower House whether Jammu and Kashmir had not been included in thedelimitation exercise taken up in the country and whether the governmentconsidered to undertake it with a view to remove regional imbalance in thestate.
The two members also asked if the government planned to doso, what were the details and by what time the work related to the constitutionof a Delimitation Commission is likely to be completed.
Answering the questions, Minister of State for Home AffairsA.G. Kishan Reddy said in a written reply, “The state of Jammu and Kashmirwas not included within the purview of the Delimitation Act 2002 as Article 170of the Constitution of India that deals with delimitation of constituencies forstate legislative assemblies has not been extended to Jammu and Kashmir.”
He said the “delimitation of legislative assemblyconstituencies in Jammu and Kashmir is carried out under Sections 47 and 141 ofthe Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.”
To another question about the details of the present votingpopulation in Jammu and Kashmir, Reddy said, “At present, there are37,33,111 voters in Jammu Division, 40,10,971 voters in Kashmir Division and1,79,147 voters in Ladakh Division.”On whether the government was considering tohold election in Jammu and Kashmir only after the delimitation exercise, theMinister said, “The Election Commission has not yet fixed the dates forholding Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.”