Centre extends term of J&K Delimitation Commission for second time in a year

For the second time in a year, the Central government has extended the term of the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission that was tasked with redrawing assembly constituencies in the union territory.
The Centre extended the term two months amending the notification issued on March 6, 2020. “In the said notification, in paragraph 2, for the words, “two years”, the words, “two years and two months” shall be substituted,” a notification the Minry of Law and Justice stated.
Now, the panel’s term will end on May 6.
The delimitation process is crucial for kick-starting the political process in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2020, Prime Miner Narendra Modi had said elections would be held in J&K after the delimitation process in the UT was over. On March 6, 2020, the government had set up the Delimitation Commission, headed retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, to wind up delimitation within a year.
As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, the number of Assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to benefit the Jammu region.
The panel was granted one-year extension last year. Apart from Desai, Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and J&K State Election Commissioner KK Sharma are the ex-officio members of the panel. Besides, the panel has five associate members — National Conference MPs Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, Union Miner of State in the Prime Miner’s Office Jitendra Singh, and Jugal Kishore Sharma of the BJP. In its draft report shared with its five associated members, the panel had proposed an overhaul of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in the UT.
The report was sent to the five associate members Abdullah, Hasnain Masoodi and Akbar Lone (Lok Sabha MPs from the NC) and Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore (BJP MPs) earlier this month. They were to submit their views February 14. A final report is expected to be prepared considering the objections filed. The draft report has also ignored the objections filed the National Conference on December 31 last year, rejecting the proposal to increase six Assembly seats in the Jammu region as against just one in the Kashmir division.