Srinagar,14-Mar; The Jammu and Kashmir delimitation commission has published its proposals in the gazettes of India and J&K and invited objections and suggestions till March 21.The commission has announced that it will visit the union territory on March 28 and 29 for public sittings.The commission has incorporated two detailed dissenting notes signed by three National Conference (NC) Lok Sabha members including Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi.Five Lok Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir are associate members of the commission. In addition to three from the NC, the other two are union minister of state in the PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore of the BJP.In its dissenting note, the NC has challenged the constitution of the commission. The NC’s dissenting note also pertains to the different assembly constituencies proposed by the panel.As per the proposals of the panel, J&K will have 90 assembly constituencies out of which seven segments will be reserved for SCs and nine for STs.Suggestions will be considered by the Commission in its public sitting in Jammu and Kashmir on March 28 and 29, the location and timing of which will be notified separately.With the panel now putting its proposal in public domain, anyone can file the objections which have to be either accepted or rejected by the Commission before submission of final report.The Commission has its term till May 6 and there is a possibility that it will submit final report within the timeline. The Panel was set up on May 6, 2020 with one year term which was extended by another year on May 6, 2021. While its term was due to expire on May 6, 2022, it was granted two month extension to complete the task.The commission is headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai and comprises the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner (SEC) K.K. Sharma.In addition to the proposed 90 assembly seats to which elections will be held, 24 seats will continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK).In the previous Assembly, Kashmir had 46 seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh four.After the final report of the delimitation commission, summary revision of the electoral rolls will be followed by elections in J&K.(CNS)
