Delimitation panel gets extension

New Delhi, Mar 04: The Delimitation Commission, set up in March last year to redraw the electoral constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh, got an extension to complete its work, an official notification said on Wednesday.

The notification said the term has been extended by one year and now the panel would look only into the delimitation of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The panel was tasked to redraw the Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of the four northeastern states and work on increasing the number of assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 . . . the Central Government hereby makes the following amendments in the notification . . . dated the 06th March, 2020, namely:- In the said notification, (i) in the opening paragraph, (a) the words, ? and the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, shall be omitted," the notification read.

Last year, the Lok Sabha speaker had nominated 15 MPs as associate members of the Delimitation Commission.

The members included Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Jitendra Singh, who will assist in redrawing the constituencies.

Members of Parliament and the legislative assemblies of the states for which the commission has been set up are drawn in as associate members to assist the panel in its task.

Jammu and Kashmir at present has no legislative assembly. It is a union territory with a provision for a legislature.

The government had, on March 6 last year, constituted the commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.

Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and the state election commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir and the four states were its ex-officio members.

Now, besides Chandra, only the state election commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir is its ex-officio member.

So far, the state election commissioners of the four northeastern states were also ex-officio members.