Why in news:

• The Delimitation Commission, in its first draft on the proposed allocation of assembly seats in districts of Jammu and Kashmir, has sought six new seats to be added in the Jammu division.
• In comparison, the commission has proposed allocation of one seat in Kashmir division.
• The proposal has resulted in protests by Valley-based leaders and various political parties.

Key Points:

• If the proposal – shared on Monday with the 5 MPs from J&K who are associate members of the delimitation panel -- goes through, it will increase the total seats in Jammu region from existing 37 to 43.
• While Kashmir with one additional seat will have 47 seats.
• The proposed distribution makes the seat division more even, a result that is not politically palatable for Valley parties though on the other hand the sentiment in Jammu has been that its numbers have been suppressed to ensure the upper hand of Kashmiri leaders.
• As per the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, the number of assembly seats in UT of J&K are to be raised from 107 to 114 through fresh delimitation, a task entrusted to the Delimitation Commission.
• The commission is headed by Justice (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai and having chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and J&K state election body chief as ex-officio members.
• Since 24 of the 114 seats are in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and remain unrepresented, the effective strength of J&K assembly will go up from 83 to 90.
• The delimitation draft proposes one seat each to be added in the districts of Kishtwar, Samba, Kathua, Doda, Rajouri and Udhampur/Reasi in Jammu division and Kupwara in Kashmir division.
• Incidentally, the districts in J&K have increased from 12 to 20 since the last delimitation in the erstwhile state in 1995.
• The draft shared with the five associate members, who lack voting rights, at their second meeting with the panel also proposed reservation of nine seats in J&K for Scheduled Tribes, even as the count of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes remains seven.
• The tribal seats remain despite Ladakh being carved into a separate UT, indicating a sizeable presence of these groups in J&K.