by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
No Early Assembly polls in J&K
EC awaits Home Ministry Nod
Delimitation of Constituencies to begin after 18 years
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Aug 29
The Union Home Ministry has signaled to the Election Commission that Delimitation exercise will have to wait for some more time.
The Election Commission wants to undertake the Delimitation exercise in J&K at the earliest as the process had been delayed for too long. Once the Delimitation takes place, the number of seats in the Union Territory is likely to go up to 114 from the current 107. This include 24 seats from the Pak occupied Kashmir (PoK) which remain vacant in the Assembly. The number 107 does not include four seats of Ladakh and two nominated members.
Sources say this process will begin only after the reorganisation of the two Union Territories (J&K and Ladakh) which will be effective from October 31. The Ministry of Home Ministry is in touch with the Election Commission and told the EC that the situation will normalize within the next six week. Already more than 1700 detenus have been freed and remaining 400 others are in the process of being released gradually. The process of house to house search for arms & ammunition and militants is practically over in most of the sensitive distrcits.
The Delimitation exercise, once begins, will take nearly a year to complete. Ordinarily, the process is carried out every few years to ensure that each constituency has approximately an equal number of voters. This is mandatory after every Census. But in the case of J&K, it was not allowed by the then Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah after the 2001 Census.
Dr Abdullah froze the delimitation until 2026 through an amendment which was done in 2002. But with the revocation of Article 370, the decision has been revoked automatically.
The EC, meanwhile, has begun its internal exercise and appointed a few consultants who have wide ranging experience of conducting Delimitation in the past.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has gone on record to say that “the EC has not received any formal communication from the MHA so far.”
Therefore, the prospects of an early election in the J&K are not bright as the government is keen to restore complete normalcy. This coupled with Delimitation will take a minimum of one year. So no possibility of polls even in March next year in the state.
