Assembly polls unlikely anytime soon.
According to Election Commission sources, assembly elections which are pending in Jammu and Kashmir after the assembly was dissolved will not be taking place any time soon. In fact, according to EC sources, they may be held in 2021 after the delimitation process ends.
According to EC sources, the process of delimitation will take anything between 10 to 15 months after a formal nod from the Ministry of Home Affairs and creation of the Delimitation Commission. On October 31, the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be formally divided into the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the union territory of Ladakh.
Out of this, Ladakh will not have legislature while J&K will be an UT with an assembly like Delhi and Puducherry. The formal process for delimitation will only begin after J&K is bifurcated. But already, EC has made a blueprint of the delimitation process. The entire exercise will be conducted in ten phases and elections will be held once it is finished.
The decision to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to bifurcate the state into two union territories was taken by the government on August 5. It was subsequently ratified by the Parliament. While Pakistan has raised hue and cry over it, globally India's stance on the abrogation of Article 370 has got overwhelming support.
1. Last delimitation was held in 1995
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The last time delimitation took place in 1995. This time again the maps of constituencies will be redrawn based on current census. EC has decided to use the model used for delimitation of Uttarakhand in 2000-01 for this process.
According to calculation, after delimitation, the number of seats in Jammu and Kashmir will increase by 7. However, 4 assembly seats from Ladakh will be excluded. So the new strength of Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be 114 of which 24 are kept aside for Pak Occupied Kashmir. So the next election, as and when it takes place, will be held in 87 seats of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
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2. Who benefits from delimitation?
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According to sources, the seven seats which are increasing will be from Jammu region, where in Kashmir, 4 seats will get reduced as Ladakh will become a separate Union Territory.
Thus any party having a good hold in Jammu is likely to benefit. In the last election, BJP did very well in Jammu. If it can continue to keep that trend or better it when elections are held post delimitation, a BJP CM ruling J&K may not be a far fetched proposition.
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3. Government sets up air ticket counters in Srinagar
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The government set up air ticket counters at the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) here to facilitate bookings following inconvenience caused due to internet and communication restrictions.
"We received directions from the government to open a counter for air ticket facility here in collaboration with the airport authorities. People had to go through airport security just to book tickets," Tourism Director Nisar Ahmed told ANI on Thursday.
"People were facing a lot of problems, so we set up this counter. We called the airport authorities and airlines here and they identified their counters. Meanwhile, we have also talked to the travel and trade agents to facilitate further convenience to the people," Ahmed said.
The ticket counter is located at the city centre, a place considered convenient to reach from any part of the city.
"This is a very good step by the government. It is making the ticket booking process convenient for us. Otherwise, we would have had to go to the airport just to book a ticket," said a local who had gone to the centre to book a ticket.
(Image-AFP)
