Petition challenges J&K delimitation for violation of right to equality

New Delhi: The delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir has been challenged in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it 'violated right to equality'. Delimitation has been frozen in the rest of India till 2026, and there's no reason why J&K should be singled out, the petition said.

Incidentally, SC is yet to hear a slew of petitions filed in 2019, which challenged legality of the Centre's decision to read down Article 370 and downgrade the state into Union territories of J&K and Ladakh. The delimitation issue is linked to the question of special status the state enjoyed till 2019.

The plea said, as per March 6, 2020, notification of the law ministry delimitation would be undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. However, as per a subsequent notice on March 3, 2021, the exercise was confined to J&K and it was dropped for other states. This was discriminatory, petitioners Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, both residents of Srinagar, contended. Delimitation will be done in J&K on the basis of the 2011 census, while it will be based on the 2001 census for other states, it said.


Delimitation was last done in the state in 1995, based on the 1981 census. Also it can only be conducted by the Election Commission and appointing a delimitation commission had no legal standing, it contended.

As per the 2011 census, Jammu had a population of 53 lakh, while Kashmir had a population of 68 lakh. Of the total 87 seats, raised to 90 now, 46 are in Kashmir and 37 in Jammu. The delimitation panel proposes that Kashmir will only get one more seat while Jammu would get 6 seats. This disproportionate representation was against the Constitution, the petition said. The increase of seats violated Articles 81, 82, 170, 330 and 332 and statutory provisions under Section 63 of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, the petitioners contended.