New Delhi, Feb 17
The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora on Monday named Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra as his nominee for the proposed Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir.
According to a Commission spokesperson, Arora named Chandra as his nominee for the proposed commission after a request from the Government.
Before the Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act in August 2019, the effective strength of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was 87 including the seats of the falling in the Ladakh region which is a now a separate Union Territory without a legislature.
However, 24 seats of the Assembly continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“…the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be increased from 107 to 114, and delimitation of the constituencies may be determined by the Election Commission in the manner hereinafter provided,” according to the J-K Reorganisation Act, 2019.
The law also said that “the Lok Sabha will have five seats from the UT of J-K, while Ladakh will have one seat.”
“On and from the appointed day, there shall be allocated five seats to the successor UT of J-K and one seat to UT of Ladakh, in the House of the People, and the First Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950) shall be deemed to be amended accordingly,” it said
