Why is EC's Delimitation Commission in Jammu and Kashmir? Here is all you need to know

The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir reached the Union Territory on Tuesday for a two-day visit. During this time the team will be meeting with political parties, district officials and other stakeholders to gather ground-level information related to redrawing of constituencies there.

Simply put, delimitation refers to the process of demarcating political boundaries to ensure voters are represented fairly in the Parliament or Assembly. The process is ideally carried out every few years to define the limits of each constituency.

The Delimitation Commission, tasked with redrawing parliamentary and assemblies constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, is scheduled to visit the Union Territory from July 6 to July 9 and interact with administrative officials, political parties and public representatives there. The decision to visit Jammu and Kashmir was taken after the panel held a meeting at the Election Commission office in the national capital on June 30.

While the move has been welcomed by several parties, others remain determined to not meet with the team. The People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday said it will not meet the Commission as the Centre did not initiate any steps to ease the lives of the people and the outcome of the delimitation exercise was "widely believed" to be "pre-planned".

Both Congress and BJP, along with Jammu and Kashmir's Panthers Party welcomed the move of the Election Commission and said they will meet the delegation and demand fair representation of all communities. BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit president Ravinder Raina said his party's delegation will demand a "lawful and logical delimitation" from the commission.

The Congress has also urged the team to spend more time on the grassroots level to understand ground realities and sentiments. Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh opined that the commission should divide seats equally between Jammu and Kashmir.

(With inputs from agencies)