india

Updated: Aug 14, 2019 08:14 IST

The Election Commission (EC) of India on Tuesday held an internal meeting on the proposed delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir following the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, in Parliament last week.

An official aware of developments said the election watchdog was familiarising itself with provisions of the Act under which Jammu and Kashmir state has been carved into two Union Territories — Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh – that will come into effect on October 31.

Delimitation is the process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province with a legislative body.

According to Section 60 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, “The number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be increased from 107 to 114.”

The official cited above, who did not wish to be named, said, “It was a meeting to inform the commission members about the provisions of the Act and the process that was followed for carrying out delimitation when new states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were carved out.”

Another official said on the condition of anonymity the delimitation process had not begun as the home ministry had yet to formally write to the election watchdog on reorganisation of the state.

Delimitation will be carried out in J&K after over two decades.

In 2002, the J&K Assembly had put a freeze on fresh delimitation of seats till 2026.