After the removal of Article 370 in the state which was then bifurcated into two Union Territories, the newly formed UT, Jammu and Kashmir, will see assembly elections in 2021. According to Election Commission sources, the reason behind the move is delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to sources, the process of delimitation may take a span of over 10 to 15 months after it gets a nod from the Home Ministry and the Delimitation commission that is constituted.
The process that will begin after 31st October will be completed in ten phases. The EC will take time to finalise the sub-committees and schedules for undertaking the exercise in 9 to 10 phases, as it mandatorily requires completing the procedure established by law.
The poll panel has already prepared a blueprint for the delimitation process which is based on its experience in Uttarakhand in 2000-2001.
Earlier, delimitation took place in Jammu and Kashmir in 1995 following which there were a total of 111 seats in the Assembly in the state. Now after carving out Ladakh, a separate UT now, J&K is expected a fall of 4 seats with current assembly seats totalling up to 107 now, in the UT.
According to Election Commission sources, after delimitation, 7 assembly seats will be increased in Jammu and Kashmir. After which the total number of assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir will be 114.
Out of those seats, 24 assembly seats are reserved for PoK. This indicates that the next assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in 90 seats.
Currently, while Kashmir has a total number of 46 assembly seats, Jammu division has 37. It is expected that Jammu would be benefitted following the creation of seven new Assembly seats, as provided in the reorganisation Act, as the delimitation process will take into account the geographical area and the population of the two regions.
Since the Ladakh division is being created as a separate UT, the total number of seats in the new J&K Assembly will come down from 87 to 83, as the four seats of Leh, Kargil, Zanskar and Nubra would no longer be part of it.