Delimitation Commission for Jammu & Kashmir

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What is Delimitation?
• Why is Delimitation Needed?
• Constitutional Provisions w.r.t. Delimitation
• About Delimitation Commission
• Delimitation Commission for Jammu & Kashmir
• News Summary
• Supreme Court’s Judgement on Delimitation Commission for J&K

 

Why in News?

• The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the Constitution of the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission to readjust constituencies in the new Union Territory.

 

What is Delimitation?

• According to the Election Commission, the word ‘delimitation’ is defined as “the act or process of fixing limits/boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body”.
• In simple terms, the exercise of redrawing the boundaries of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly Constituencies in a region is known as delimitation.
• In this process, the number of seats allocated to a particular state/UT in Lok Sabha or in the Legislative Assembly may vary.
• For example: Delhi, a union territory with legislative assembly, has 7 Lok Sabha constituencies while in the Legislative Assembly it has 70 constituencies.

 

Why is Delimitation Needed?

• Delimitation helps in redrawing the boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) in such a way that the population of all the constituencies, as far as practicable, remain equal throughout the State/UT.
• It ensures a fair division of geographical areas so that all political parties or candidates contesting elections have a level playing field in terms of a number of voters.

 

Constitutional Provisions w.r.t. Delimitation

• Article 82 and Article 170 of the Constitution empowers the Parliament to readjust the allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of States respectively, after every census.
• Accordingly, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Commission Act and an independent high-powered panel known as the Delimitation Commission is constituted to carry out the exercise of delimitation.
• The Parliament has enacted the Delimitation Commission Acts in 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002 for this purpose.
  • There was no Delimitation Commission Act after the 1981 and 1991 census.
  • The present delimitation of constituencies has been done on the basis of 2001 census data under the provisions of Delimitation Commission Act, 2002.

• The next Delimitation Commission will be set up after 2026.
• Further, Article 330 and Article 332 of the Constitution provide for re-fixing the number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of the states, on the basis of the 2001 census.

 

About Delimitation Commission

• The Delimitation Commission is a high-powered committee entrusted with the task of drawing and redrawing of boundaries of different constituencies for state assembly and Lok Sabha election.
• It is appointed by the President and works in collaboration with the Election Commission.
• The Commission consists of –
  • A retired or working Supreme Court Judge (chairperson)
  • Election Commissioner
  • Concerned State Election Commissioners

• The Commission’s orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.

 

Delimitation Commission for Jammu & Kashmir

• In the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats was governed by the Indian Constitution, but the delimitation of its Assembly seats was governed separately by the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution.
• But after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status and became a Union Territory.
• In March 2020, the Union government set-up a Delimitation Commission which was tasked with delimitation in J&K and four north-eastern states – Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, which was supposed to be completed in a year.
  • However, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the Commission had been given an extension of one year.
• It will be only after the completion of the delimitation exercise that elections for the J&K Legislative Assembly can be held.

 

News Summary

• A petition was filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the delimitation exercise carried out for redrawing the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
• The petition had contended that the delimitation exercise was in violation of Article 170(3) which had frozen delimitation till the first census after 2026.
• The petitioners had argued that delimitation cannot happen on the basis of the 2011 Census but must be carried out as per the 2001 Census or await “the first census after the year 2026”.

 

Supreme Court’s Judgement on Delimitation Commission for J&K

• On the legality of the Delimitation Commission for J&K, the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court said “the J&K Reorganisation Act, which created the two new Union territories, assigns the role of readjustment of constituencies to the Delimitation Commission under the Delimitation Act, 2002”.
• The Court said that Article 4 of the Constitution permits the Parliament to incorporate such provisions in the law made in accordance with Article 3 for the formation of new States and Union territories, which may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of the law.
  • Such a law may also contain provisions as to representations in Parliament and in the Legislature of the State or States affected by such law.

• Therefore, such law which is made under Article 3 can always provide for readjustment of the Constituencies in the newly constituted States or Union territories through the Delimitation Commission.
• Hence, the Court held that there is no illegality associated with the establishment of the Delimitation Commission.

 

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Q1) How often has delimitation been done?

Delimitation is done on the basis of the preceding Census. The first such exercise in 1950-51 was carried out by the President, with the help of the Election Commission. Following the Delimitation Commission Act in 1952, all such exercises have been conducted by Delimitation Commissions — set up in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002.

 

 

Q2) Under which act Jammu and Kashmir became union territory?

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 is an act of the Parliament containing provisions to reconstitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories (UTs) called Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, and becoming effective on 31 October 2019.

 

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Source: Supreme Court dismisses plea challenging delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir  |  Hindu