Supreme Court of India has dismissed a writ petition filed by Kashmir residents Haji Abdul Gani Khan and others challenging constitution of J&K delimitation commission for redrawing the legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The court upheld the central government’s power to hold Jammu and Kashmir delimitation.
The petitioners had questioned the legality and validity of the action of constituting a Delimitation Commission for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir under provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and the exercise of delimitation undertaken by the Commission.
In May 2022, the Delimitation Commission for Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, headed by Chairperson Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and CEC Sushil Chandra & State Election Commissioner, J&K Sh. K.K Sharma, had finalised the Delimitation order. The commission treated J&K as single entity for purposes of delimitation – 9 seats reserved for STs for the 1st time; All 5 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) to have equal number of Assembly Constituencies (ACs); Of the 90 ACs, 43 part of Jammu & 47 for Kashmir.
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