Delimitation Act 2002 not extended to J&K, governed by its own constitution, no dates fixed for assembly polls yet: MoS Home

New Delhi: The Minister of state for Home G Kishan Reddy in a written reply on delimitation of assembly constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir in Lok Sabha on Tuesday avoided replying whether it was planning to conduct a delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir to “remove regional imbalance in the State,”clarifying that article 170 of the constitution of India concerning the delimitation of constituencies of state assemblies had not been extended to the state and as such the state was not brought under the purview of the delimitation act 2002 passed by the parliament. The Minister also said that Delimitation of legislative Assembly constituencies in J&K is carried out under Section 47 and 141 of the Jammu & Kashmir constitution, adding that Election Commission of India has not fixed date for holding assembly elections in the state as yet.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi raised a question in the Lok Sabha whether Jammu and Kashmir had not been included in the delimitation exercise taken up in the country and whether the government considered to undertake it with a view to remove the regional imbalance in the State.
Reddy in his written reply said that Jammu and Kashmir was not included within the purview of the Delimitation Act, 2002, as Article 170 of the constitution of India that deals with delimitation of constituencies of State Assemblies had not been extended to the State.
“Delimitation of legislative Assembly constituencies in J&K is carried out under Section 47 and 141 of the Constitution of J&K,” Mr. Reddy said.
He said there were 37,33,111 voters in the Jammu division, 40,10,971 in the Kashmir division and 1,79,147 in the Ladakh division.He also said that the Election Commission of India had not fixed the dates for holding the Assembly elections in the State.