• Article explains the complexities of delimitation and role of commissions appointed.
• It also tells how the number of Assembly seats allocated to Kashmir earlier were do so in an alleged biased way without following the provisions of the laws that existed then.

Although 83 MLA segments out 87 of the Legislative Assembly (LA) of erstwhile J&K State have been retained for the Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K (comprising of the Jammu and Kashmir regions of the erstwhile J&K State) an additional provision of 7 more MLAs has also been made in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, Act No 34 of August 2019 of Parliament there by increasing the number to 90. In addition to increasing the number of MLAs provision of reservations for Schedule Tribe (ST) has also been made (Section-14-(3, 6&7).

Hence   before constituting the first Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K, exercise for delimitation of Single Member segments of the Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K had become a pre requisite. So, the exercise for Delimitation of Segments of the Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K has been started with the appointment of a Delimitation Commission in March 2020.

Common man of UT of J&K is very hopefully waiting for a fair delimitation order (atleast after 70 years) of Legislative Assembly Segments since no any fair delimitation in consonance with the guidelines as laid in the J&K Representation of the People Act of 1957, Act No IV of 1957 had been done in the past for the Legislative Assembly of erstwhile State of J&K.

No doubt after the passage of the Reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir Act of 2019, Act No.34 of 2019 the J&K RPA of 1957 is not there but the guidelines which are now there for the present Delimitation as per Section-9.1(a) Delimitation Act 2002 and in Sections – 59 & Sub- Section-2 of Section- 60 of Act No. 34 of 2019 are almost same as were there in the J&K Representation of the People Act of 1957, Act No IV of 1957. 

It would have been better had first the district administrative units in the UT of J&K been reorganised which would have given a better overview of the physicals of the UT of J&K since the district boundaries and number of units do help in taking a fair view of the local needs for UT of J&K.

To be brief the UT of J&K has two distinct Regions, 1. Jammu Region 2. Kashmir Region (Valley). All these years both in the Legislative Assembly and in the matter of locating District Administrative Units the distant and backward areas & people have been unfairly treated and most of these fall in Jammu Region. 

To be brief in 1978 Jammu Region had 6 District Administrative Units (Doda, Udhampur, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Jammu)  and Kashmir Region had only 3 District Administrative Units (Baramulla, Anantnag, Srinagar) where as in 2021 Jammu Region has 10 Districts ( Doda, Udhampur, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Jammu, + Kishtwar,  Ramban, Reasi, Samba)  and Kashmir Region also has 10 Districts (Baramulla, Anantnag, Srinagar PLUS Kupwara, Bandipora, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Badgam, Ganderbal).

Any how the Delimitation Commission has started the Delimitation exercise for the Legislative Assembly although it was requested that before that reorganisation of Districts be done it is still very much hoped that Delimitation Commission with undo the wrongs of earlier wrong delimitation order of April 1995.

The only and the first  regular order for delimitation of the Legislative Assembly Segments of  erstwhile J&K State that was made on  27 April 1995 by a Delimitation Commission that was appointed in 1981 (SRO No; 537 of 02-12-1981, Justice J.N Wazir was the 1^st  Chairman and Justice K. K. Gupta was the last Chairman)  was supposed to have been issued in terms of guidelines as were  laid down  in J&K Representation of the Peoples Act 1957 (JK RPA of 1957), Section- 4, Sub Section –2 . 

But  to  any fair wisdom  that too technically appeared unfair to the common man of  J&K  (particularly  those  who are placed in distant & backward areas  and more of such areas / people fell in Jammu Region)  like was the adhoc delimitation for the segments of the Constituent  Assembly of J&K State done in 1951 since that  did  violate  the common man centric guiding principles laid down in  JK RPA 1957 which in principle was designed to provide a representative of nearness (MLA) in the Legislative Assembly to a common subject of J&K State.

So, otherwise also before 2019 repeated demands were there for ordering fresh delimitation since 1995 Delimitation of LA Segments had not been that minutely and fairly done on the basis of JK RPA 1957 guidelines like 1. Geographical Compactness/ Area (Jammu nearly 165% of Kashmir valley) 2. Terrain (very bad in Jammu region) 3. Means of communication/ connectivity (road connectivity much -much poor in Jammu Region (in comparison) 4. Population 5. And like Factors.

Some people have been saying that the earlier irrational distribution of Assembly Segments (MLAs) was due to Art-370 and Art-35A which is totally a wrong assertion since the then J&K State too had a very rational and meaningful J&K Representation of the People Act 1957 with clear and simple guidelines for delimitation which were flouted by the delimitation committees / commission under the influence of “leadership” to keep the balance towards Kashmir valley.

No doubt present Delimitation has to be done on the basis of 2011 census where in the Population of Kashmir Valley is more than the population of districts that fall in Jammu Region. But population is only one of the 5 critical parameters for delimitation of LA segments. In this regard attention is drawn towards the fact that  the Delimitation of the Lok Sabha Segments (MP) is more based on population criteria  on State basis that is why for MPs of all states the points kept for one MP vote for President election is same (at present 708 points/MP ) whereas the points kept for one MLA vote for President election is different for different states (UP MLA =208 points , J&K MLA =72 points , HP MLA=51 points, Sikkim MLA= 7 points ) in the case of MLA  parameters like geographical compactness, terrain, facilities of communication  and like matter more since in a way  nearness of MLA to common man has to be ensured as far as possible.

No doubt after the passage of the Reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir Act of 2019, Act No.34 of 2019  the J&K RPA of 1957 is not there but the guidelines  which are now there for the present Delimitation Commission as per  Section-9.1(a) Delimitation Act  2002 and in Sections – 59 & Sub- Section-2 of Section-60  of Act No. 34 of 2019  are in a way  also  laying similar guiding parameters  as were there in J&K RPA of 1957 like all the constituencies shall be single-member constituencies, all constituencies shall, as far as practicable, geographically compact  (surely reference  is to  area ), regard shall be had to physical features ( surely refers to features like terrain etc), existing boundaries of administrative units (surely refers to features like nearness to administration  need be kept in view), keep in view facilities of communication ( surely refers to roads in the area );and conveniences to the public (like distances, nearness to administration/ public representative). Population is one of 5 factors & matters more as regards seats reserved for SC &ST (Sec.-14- (3,&7)} & {Sec.14-(3,6&,7)) of Act 34.

Going by the guiding parameters laid for delimitation of Legislative Assembly Segments technically the  balance  tilts towards areas falling in Jammu region since had it not been so then, in the  Constitution of J&K  the then Constituent Assembly of J&K (that then had 43 members from Kashmir Region and only 30 from Jammu Region) would not have  constitutionally distributed members in the Legislative Council of J&K even region wise  under  Section-50 of JK Constitution keeping 14 elected Members in the Legislative Council (MLC)  for  Jammu Region areas as against only 12 elected MLCs for Kashmir region areas.

One of the available key indicators for Legislative Assembly delimitation too could be somewhere near to 14:12:: 44-45:38-39. The Delimitation Commission order of 1995 had give 46 MLA to Kashmir Region that had less (12) elected MLCs.

So had the Delimitation Commission worked truthfully in 1994-95 surely about 45 to 44 MLAs would have been distributed over the then 6 Jammu Region districts (Doda, Udhampur, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Jammu) and only 39 to 38 MLAs in Kashmir region districts (Srinagar+ Badgam, Anantnag +Pulwama, Baramulla+ Kupwara)   but the commission had arbitrarily did the exercise in the opposite direction by carrying ahead the 1989 draft proposals of Commission when Justice Jalal u Din was the Chairman.

So now it is a fair opportunity for the present Delimitation Commission to apply the corrections to the allegedly faulty Delimitation order of April 1995 where presently out of 83 MLAs only 37 MLAs are distributed over areas in Jammu Region and 46 MLAs are distributed over the areas in Kashmir Valley (region).

Ofcourse the present Delimitation Commission for delimiting the single member segments of the Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K has to take (i) Census -2011 as reference where population of Kashmir region is mentioned more than Jammu Region. But population is only one of the five parameters and cannot shift the balance towards Kashmir Valley over riding other parameters (ii) Geographical Compactness (Jammu Region 26293 sq km and Kashmir Region 15948 sq km).

Some Pre 2007 districts like  Doda (Doda + Kishtwar+ Ramban), Rajouri , Kathua , Udhampur (Udhampur + Reasi) in Jammu  Region have combined area of 21,522 sq. km and only 21 MLAs have been allocated as per 27 April 1995 Delimitation order  whereas  as the total area of erstwhile districts of Pulwama (Pulwama+ Shopian) , Anantnag ( Anantnag+ Kulgam) , Srinagar ( Srinagar + Ganderbal)  and Badgam in Kashmir Region was just 8,981 sq. km but 31 MLAs were allocated.

(iii) Nature of terrain ( Jammu region has not more than 20 % plain terrain whereas Kashmir region has more than 75 % terrain as plain ) (iv) Facilities of Communication (Percentage of area covered by roads in Kashmir valley was almost 40%  and the road length in Kashmir valley was around 4900 km in 1980s  where as in Jammu region figure was 18% and  around 3500 km in mid 1980s  when the regular Delimitation Commission had started work in 1981 with reference as 1981 census) and (v) like considerations as other parameters.

With a fair delimitation  in 1995 the present 83 seats (out of 87 after leaving four of  Ladakh region)  would have been distributed something like for erstwhile Udhampur District ( pre 2007) atleast 8 as against 6 , for Doda ( pre 2007) areas upto 10 instead of  6 , for Kathua areas around 7 instead of 5 , for Rajouri atleast 5 instead of 4  and like decreasing seats in other districts.  But still the overall share of Jammu region would have been atleast 45 out of 83 seats and Kashmir Region around 38 seats.

Such like distribution is also supported by the provisions as  had been kept in Section-50 of J&K  Constitution  of elected MLCs i.e. 14 ( MLC )  from Jammu Region and only 12 (MLC)l from Kashmir Region  and even by that proportion of 14:12  indicators emerge like  45 MLAs out of 83  for Jammu Region areas and  38 MLAs as against 46 given by DC in 1995  for  KASHMIR REGION AREAS.

*A broad based exercise for distribution of seats as per the requirement of J&K

RPA 1957 was done privately (with whatever prime data was available for 1980) by the author also. Excerpts were published in media starting from 20 April 1992 and a copy of the detailed note was also submitted / sent on 25-09-1994 to Justice K. K. Gupta Chairman Delimitation Commission, T.N Sheshan CEC of India and Mr. N.A Vishwanathan Dy EC. But the then Commission still went ahead with proposals made somewhere in 1989 when Justice Jalal u Din headed the commission and issued the Delimitation order of 27-04-1995. *Summary of the exercise done is also contained in the booklet History of “Delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir”.

To briefly take on the history of related events it is worth mentioning here that for Constituent Assembly of J&K State adhoc delimitation was done in 1951 @40000 population per/ seat (with census-*1941) as reference allocating 43* seats over Kashmir Region and just 30* seats over Jammu Region (excluding POJK) wherein it was wrong to assume population of Jammu Region as just 12,00,000 as against 17,20,000 for Kashmir region. The Constituent Assembly met for the first time in Srinagar on October 31, 1951 with Maullana Masoodi in Chair.

(*Going by the number of seats in Constituent Assembly / Legislative Assembly as were allocated in 1951 on the basis 1941 census i.e 40,21,616 @40000 souls as only parameter  (43 to Kashmir Region and 30 to Jammu Region ) it could be  inferred  that  the proportionate population for (unoccupied) Kashmir Valley was assumed as 1,72,0000 and for (unoccupied) Jammu Region just as  12,00,000. But as per 1941 census data in the  Administrative report  (16-10-1940 to 15-101941) of the Government of J&K  the population of Jammu Province was 20,01,557, Kashmir was 17,28,686 and that of  Gilgit / frontier Illakas of Skardu, Kargil & Ladakh was 3,11,915. 

So the 1951 exercise surely comes under question mark since nearly one district from Kashmir valley out of the then three districts ( Anantnag, Baramulla, Muzaffrabad ) had been occupied by Pakistan in 1947  and still 1720000 population out of 1728686 was assumed to be left there in unoccupied area of Kashmir Region  where as 801557 out of  2001557 was taken as left in POJK from Jammu region even when around 40000 families were displaced from POJK (who had mostly settled outside Kashmir region). There was no census in 1951.

Census proportionated in 1961 showed population of Jammu Region as around 16 Lakh and Kashmir Valley as around 18 Lakh. Although J&K RPA 1957 was by now in place laying 5 guiding parameters (Section-4 of RPA1957: *Population, Geographical Compactness, *Nature of terrain, Facilities of Communication * and   the like considerations) for delimitation of Legislative Assembly Segments but once again in 1966 on adhoc basis only one seat was reduced from areas falling in Kashmir Region and seats over Jammu region increased 30 to 31.

As per 1957 Act population was only one of 5 parameters but still even only on 1961 population basis for Jammu region there was one MLA for app 51600 as against 42850 souls for  Kashmir region. Action of changing  the numbers as 32 for  Jammu region & 42 for Kashmir region & 2 Ladakh region  without any regular delimitation too remained unfair (by 12th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1975 of 19-08-1975   Clause - a   of Section 48  of J&K Constitution  was amended to increase the seats open  for elections from 75 to 76 out of 100 )*,

Not only that , so irrationally the same proportions as for Constituent Assembly were in a way carried for elections to Legislative Assembly in 1957  (Jammu 30 & Kashmir 43). And even thereafter although very clear guiding parameters for delimitation were laid in J&K Representation of the People Act 1957 and Section-50 of J&K Constitution had also after detailed thoughtful considerations of ground requirements constitutionally fixed more (14) elected MLCs for Jammu Region  & less (12 ) for Kashmir region in Legislative Council of J&K State.

Thereafter, a regular Delimitation Commission for Legislative Assembly Segments of J&K State was appointed first time only in 1981 vide SRO No; 537 of 02-12-1981 {Commission comprised of Justice J. N. Wazir (Retd. CJ of J&K HC ) , Justice Mian Jalal u Din & S. L. Shakdar Chief Election Commissioner  of India- ex- officio)  and  that too  formally completed work only in 1995  with 1981 Census data as reference after it was  reconstituted   vide SRO : 52 dated 29-01-1991 with Justice  K. K. Gupta as the Chairman. Before that  while the Delimitation work was in progress the Section -48 of J&K Constitution was amended by Jammu & Kashmir Constitution ( 20th  Amendment ) Act of 1987 increasing total seats in J&K Assembly  from 100 to 111 and   the effective strength for elections  from 76 to 87. Till 1995 the Delimitation Commission had seen 3 Chairman and as submitted earlier also by that time the J&K Representation of the People Act of 1957 was already in place with Section-4 laying down very clear guidelines / parameters for the Delimitation. So, atleast then  there was a very safe and secure opportunity for applying corrections  to  the so far existing wrong distribution of Legislative Assembly Segments  with Section-4 of JK RPA 1957 and fact of  distribution of elected MLCs done as per Section-50 ( 14 elected MLCs to Jammu Region and just 12 MLC  to  Kashmir Region )  of JK Constitution there  to guide the Delimitation Commission.

But so strangely the regular Delimitation Commission even in 1995 through its order of 27-04-1995 had still distributed 46 seats over the areas of J&K that had constitutionally (as Section-50 of J&K Constitution) just 12 elected MLCs and distributed only 37 MLAs over the areas in Jammu that had 14 Elected MLCs in violation of the parameters as were there in JKRPA1957.

The people of the UT, particularly Jammu region, are pinning their hopes on the present Delimitation Commission for ending the earlier arbitrary imbalance and fair distribution of 90 seats in Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K in line with the requirements of Section-9.1(a) Delimitation Act 2002 and in Sections – 59 & Sub- Section-2 of Section 60 of Act No. 34 of 2019.

It has been learnt through media that all basic data regarding the areas and people of UT of J&K required by the Commission has been provided to Delimitation Commission by the government of UT of J&K.

Some people have been saying that the earlier irrational distribution of Assembly Segments (MLAs) was due to Art-370 and Art-35A which is totally a wrong assertion since the then J&K State too had a very rational and meaningful J&K Representation of the People Act 1957 with clear and simple guidelines for delimitation which were flouted by the delimitation committees / commission under the influence of “leadership” to unfairly keep the balance towards Kashmir valley. 

Anyhow let us “still believe”’ those who hold Art-370/ 35A responsible for irrational distributions of the past and hope that the new Delimitation Commission with clear guiding parameters available  would atleast in 2021 distribute the 90 MLA seats in fair manner over the areas of Jammu region and Kashmir region  in consonance with the indicators  that also emerge from the fact that in the Legislative Council of erstwhile State of J&K Jammu Region had constitutionally more elected MLCs (14) than Kashmir Region (12 MLC), in and around  14:12 :: 48-49 :: 42-41.

Author is a Senior Journalist / Analyst Jammu & Kashmir Affairs.

Also read

1. All you wanted to know about Delimitation in J&K

2. Making sense of the J&K 2011 Census Numbers

3. All you wanted to know about the Accession of J&K to India