india

Updated: Sep 16, 2019 06:20 IST

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s working president, J P Nadda, on Sunday said that elections in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) will be held only after the delimitation of seats.

“Jammu and Kashmir has been given the status of a Union Territory but it will also have a legislature. Elections will be held. But before that there will be delimitation of constituencies,’’ he said in Thane.

The Centre on August 5 abrogated Constitution’s Article 370 that gave J&K a measure of autonomy and split it into two Union territories.

The Election Commission last month held an internal meeting on the issue of delimitation to be carried out in Jammu and Kashmir after Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisational Bill.

Delimitation is the process of fixing limits or boundaries of constituencies.

The number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be increased from 107 to 114 as per the provisions of the reorganisation .

Nadda said Scheduled Tribe seats will also be reserved for Gujjars and Bakarwals in J&K while calling Article 370 a mistake of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Nadda said Pakistan tried to raise the J&K issue in the United Nations Security Council but diplomats of over 100 countries supported India’s stand that it is an internal issue of the country and will remain so.