J-K’s associate members have limited role in delimitation exercise

SRINAGAR — The five Members of Parliament from Jammu & Kashmir have very limited role in delimitation exercise as laws governing the process explicitly state that they don’t have voting rights nor they can sign any decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The delimitation exercise in J-K is governed by The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019 and The Delimitation Commission Act 2002.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, the Election Commission shall associate with itself members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir or House of the People representing the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the purpose of assisting it in the performance of its functions defined under the law.

As per the law, the commission has been empowered to fix boundaries of 90 Assembly segments and reserve seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes within these seats.

The law, according to news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), states that none of the associate members shall have a right to vote or to sign any decision of the Election Commission.

The law further states that the ECI shall publish draft proposals for the delimitation of constituencies together with the dissenting proposals, if any, of any associate member who desires publication in the official gazette.