SC dismisses plea challenging delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir

New Delhi, Feb 13: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging the government's decision to constitute the delimitation commission for redrawing the legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir.

A bench of Justice SK Kaul and Justice AS Oka delivered the verdict on a plea filed by two Kashmir residents and noted that the government was legally allowed to and valid in forming such a commission. The apex court also added that their judgement will not have a bearing on the petitions challenging the revocation of Article 370. There are still pending pleas in front of the Supreme Court that are challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre in their decision to revoke the special status of J&K.

Delimitation is the process of redrawing the boundaries of electoral constituencies to ensure that each constituency has roughly the same number of voters. In Jammu and Kashmir, delimitation is being carried out after the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganization of the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Delimitation Commission was constituted in March 2020 to carry out this process, and it has been tasked with determining the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir and defining their boundaries. The commission is also expected to take into account factors such as the topography, geography, and the boundaries of administrative units while redrawing the electoral constituencies. The final outcome of the delimitation exercise will have a significant impact on the political representation of various communities in the region.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the Supreme Court dismissing the petition challenging the delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir was immaterial when legal challenges to abrogation of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act were pending before the apex court. "We have rejected the delimitation commission from the outset. It does not matter to us what the verdict is," Mehbooba told reporters here, 41 km from Srinagar.

The former chief minister questioned the SC delivering the verdict on the delimitation petition when other pleas were still pending consideration. "The challenge to the Reorganisation Act (under which the delimitation process was carried out) is pending, challenge to abrogation of Article 370 is pending before the SC. If all that is pending, how can they (the SC) give verdict on this petition?" she asked.