The Supreme Court building. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Supreme Court on February 13 dismissed a plea challenging the government’s decision to constitute the Delimitation Commission for redrawing the Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

On March 6, 2020, the Centre issued a notification constituting a Delimitation Commission chaired by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Ranjana P. Desai, for delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. However, the Centre issued a second notification on March 3, 2021, restricting the scope of delimitation to Jammu and Kashmir alone.

Also Read | The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation report

After multiple objections and extensions, the J&K Delimitation Commission submitted its final report on May 5, 2022, two years after it was appointed to redraw the electoral boundaries in Jammu and Kashmir as per the mandate set by the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

In its order, a notification of which was published in the Gazette of India, the three-member panel carved out additional six Assembly seats for the Jammu region and one for the Kashmir valley as per the Act. The final order of the Commission has set the stage for elections in the erstwhile State that last held Assembly polls in 2014.