Supreme Court dismisses plea challenging redrawing of constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir

The Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the government's decision to form a delimitation commission to redraw legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, On Monday, February 13. 

A bench delivered the verdict of Justices SK Kaul and AS Oka on a plea filed by two Kashmir residents.

While delivering the verdict, Justice Oka said that nothing in this decision should be interpreted as endorsing the exercise of power under clauses one and three of Article 370 of the Constitution.

The bench noted that the issue of the legality of the exercise of power under Article 370 is the subject of petitions before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is hearing petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Centre's decision to repeal Article 370 provisions on August 5, 2019.

Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's decision to repeal Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which divided J&K into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The Central government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status by repealing Article 370. On December 1, last year, the Supreme Court reserved its decision on the petition challenging the government's decision to form the delimitation commission.

During the December 1 hearing, the Centre told the Supreme Court that the delimitation commission formed to redraw legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir was authorised to do so.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, argued that the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019 does not preclude the Central government from establishing the Delimitation Commission.

On March 6, 2020, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) issued a notification under section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, establishing a Delimitation Commission chaired by former Supreme Court judge (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai.

The two petitioners', Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, argued that the delimitation exercise was carried out against the Constitution's design and that the inclusion of extended areas and the alteration of boundaries were improper.

The petition sought a declaration that increasing the number of seats in Jammu and Kashmir from 107 to 114 (including 24 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) violates constitutional and statutory provisions, specifically section 63 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

The last delimitation commission was said to have been established on July 12, 2002, in the exercise of powers conferred by section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, following the 2001 census, to carry out the exercise across the country.

The petition said that the commission, along with the constitutional and legal provisions, issued guidelines and methodology for the delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in a letter dated July 5, 2004.

Following the plea, "It said that the real number of existing seats in the Legislative Assemblies of all states, including UTs of the National Capital Region and Pondicherry, as fixed based on the 1971 census shall remain unaltered until the first census to be taken after the year 2026."

It sought to declare unconstitutional the Centre's March 6, 2020 notification establishing the delimitation commission to conduct delimitation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland.

The petition also challenged the consequential exclusion of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland from the delimitation process via a notification dated March 3, 2021, claiming that it amounts to classification and violates Article 14 (equality before the law) of the Constitution.

(With inputs from PTI)

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