NEW DELHI: The three-member Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday signed its final order on the restructuring of assembly seats in the Union territory, a day before its term was to end, an EC spokesperson told.
The Delimitation Commission headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai and having chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and J&K state election commissioner as ex-officio members, held a series of meetings over the last few days to study and consider the suggestions and objections communicated to it by members of the public, civil society and political representatives at public hearings conducted in Jammu and Srinagar on April 4 and 5.
A copy of this order and the report, detailing the number of constituencies and their size, will be submitted to the government after which the order will be issued through a gazette notification.
The commission has proposed increasing the number of seats in the UT from 83 to 90. Besides, there are 24 seats in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) that continue to remain vacant.
For the first time, nine seats have been proposed for Scheduled Tribes.
The panel has also proposed six additional seats for Jammu and one for Kashmir. As of now, the Kashmir division has 46 seats and the Jammu division 37.
Formed in March 2020, the panel was granted a one-year extension last year.
The panel has Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and the state election commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir as its ex-officio members.
In February, it was again given a two-month extension to complete its task. Its term was to otherwise end on March 6.
(With inputs from agencies)