The people of Jammu regions are happy with this proposal because they have been alleging for a long time that their region had lesser number of seats than it deserved. If the proposed increase is accepted, there would be a balance between the Jammu and Kashmir regions, they contend.The proposal for increasing reservation is also considered beneficial for the BJP.In this context, the statement of the PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is worth noting. She has alleged that she had apprehensions about the delimitation and “they want to pitch people against each other”, indicating the people of Jammu vs the people of Kashmir.It should be noted that the Legislative Assembly was initially composed of 100 seats which was increased to 111 in 1988. Of these, 24 were designated for Pak occupied Kashmir, which officially remained vacant as per section 48 of the then state constitution, now the Constitution of India. Since these 24 seats were not taken into account, the contestable seats remained only 87.After the split of the state into two UTs in August 2019, 4 seats went to Ladakh and 83 seats remained in J&K. Kashmir had 46 seats while Jammu had 37. If the draft delimitation proposal is accepted, Kashmir will have 47 seats and Jammu 43, making the total seats is the Legislative Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir to be 90.It is also worth mentioning here that the Legislative Assembly of the J&K state was bicameral prior to August 2019, when it was made unicameral and the Upper House, i.e. the Legislative Council was done away with.Another important change that was made is that the six years tenure of the Vidhan Sabha was turned into five years in line with all the other states.(IPA Service)(Views are personal)
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