New Electoral Map Released for Jammu and Kashmir: Know Major Details
On Thursday, a panel redrawing poll seats in Jammu and Kashmir completed the disputed procedure and paved the way for polls in the area for the first time since its special status was dissolved and a New Electoral Map released for Jammu and Kashmir.
In a final verdict delivered only a day before its two-year term was to end, a three-member Delimitation Commission redrawing the electoral map of Jammu and Kashmir assigned 47 Assembly seats to the Kashmir division and 43 to the Jammu division.
The Anantnag parliamentary constituency in Kashmir has been redrawn to include the Rajouri and Poonch assembly seats in Jammu. The union territory has five legislative constituencies, each with 18 assembly seats.
Seats For Scheduled Tribes
Furthermore, following discussions with members of political parties, residents, and civil society organisations, nine seats for Scheduled Tribes have been suggested for the first time — six in Jammu and three in the Valley.
A gazette declaration was issued after the panel, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, confirmed the final judgement, which gave Jammu six more seats and Kashmir one more. Before the reorganisation, Jammu had 37 Assembly constituencies and Kashmir had 46, bringing the total number of Assembly seats in the Union Territory to 90.
Renaming Assembly Seats
The titles of several assembly seats have been changed in response to local members’ requests and popular sentiment, according to the statement.
- Tanmarg is Gulmarg
- Zoonimar is Zaidibal
- Sonwar is Lal Chowk
- Padder is Padder-Nagseni
- Kathua North is Jasrota
- Kathua South is Kathua
- Khour is Chamb
- Mahore is Gulabhgarg
- Darhal is Budhal
Assembly Seats for Pakistanis in J&K
The Commission, which was established in March 2020 and was assigned the task of distinguishing assembly and parliamentary constituencies in the union territory based on the 2011 Census, has also suggested that the government that displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir be offered some representation in the assembly through a selection committee.
According to the Kashmiri migrants’ delegations before the Commission, they have been tormented and compelled to live in exile as refugees in their own homeland for the previous three decades.
