New Delhi: The government on Tuesday ducked the question of delimitation of Jammu and Kashmir before the Assembly polls in the Lok Sabha.
Contrary to Home Minister Amit Shah declaring the delimitation in the state to meet the BJP’s demand for more seats in Jammu region, his junior minister G Kishan Reddy came out with a vague answer that the Election Commission has not yet fixed the dates for holding Assembly elections in the state.
He was replying to a pointed question by Asaduddin Owaisi and Ajay Misra Teni: "Whether the Government is considering to hold elections in the state only after delimitation, if so, the reasons thereof and the time by which the people’s representative government is likely to be established in Jammu and Kashmir.
Asked about the electorate in the state, the minister said there are 37,33,111 voters in Jammu division, 40,10,971 voters in Kashmir division and 1,79,147 voters in Ladakh region.
He also pointed out that J&K was excluded from the delimitation carried out in the country in 2002 since "delimitation of legislative assembly constituencies in state of J&K is carried out under sections 47 and 141 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir."
