The Delimitation Commission is dealing with data attained from the Associate Members and District Electoral Officers (DEOs) of Jammu Kashmir for reservation of around 18-20 Assembly seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
As per a report published on Daily Excelsior, the Commission has already taken data from the DEOs about the districts, tehsils and previous Assembly constituencies which had the maximum number of SC and ST electorates during their four-day visit to Jammu Kashmir and prior to that through the virtual meeting of an Election Commission official with the DCs.
“Two out of five Associate Members of the Commission have also given their submissions to the Delimitation Commission,” sources said.
According to the sources, the data pertaining to districts, tehsils and existing assembly constituencies with a maximum population of SCs and STs is significant as it indicates that the Commission could reserve 18-20 Assembly seats for the two castes in Jammu Kashmir.
Going by 18-20 seats, sources said, the Commission could reserve 7-8 seats for Scheduled Castes and 11-12 for Scheduled Tribes. While SC seats will be reserved only in Jammu region as there’s no SC population in Kashmir. The ST seats will be reserved in both regions.
“The Delimitation Commission is next scheduled to meet the associate members but only after the finalization of draft report and compilation of data for proposed reserved constituencies to seek their opinion,” sources further said.
In the previous assembly, 7 seats were reserved for Scheduled Castes while no political reservations were given to Scheduled Tribes. This will be for the first time that the seats would be reserved for STs in the Jammu Kashmir Assembly. Seven seats reserved for SCs include Chhamb, Domana and RS Pura in Jammu district, Hiranagar in Kathua, Chenani in Udhampur, Samba and Ramban.
However, according to sources, all these seats are likely to be de-reserved by the Delimitation Commission and altogether new seats will be reserved for the SCs, all in the Jammu region.
“Seats will be strictly reserved based on the population of the SCs,” sources said.
It may be noted that seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes had to be rotated after every two Assembly elections but in Jammu Kashmir, four elections (1996, 2002, 2008 and 2014) were held on the same seven seats without any rotation.
After the delimitation exercise is done, the number of Assembly seats in Jammu Kashmir will rise from 83 to 90.