Center Preparing to Amend Jammu Kashmir Reorganization Bill, 1 seat for PoK displaced and 2 seats for Kashmiri Pandits can be reserved

What can be a big step to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The Center is planning to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019 to allot one seat in the state assembly for displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and two for Kashmiri Pandits. Displaced persons are those who migrated from parts of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 and are now on the other side of the Line of Control. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023 will be introduced in the Lok Sabha for approval. This reservation is being done for the protection of their political rights as well as for their overall social and economic development.

Who will nominate the members?

These members will be nominated by the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Significantly, after the recent delimitation process, the number of seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly has increased from 107 to 114, in which nine seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs).

How will the J&K Reorganization Act 2019 change that?

Section 14 of the existing Act will be amended in the new bill. It will also include two new sections section 15A and 15B. The amendment to Section 14 will replace 107 seats in the Act with 114 seats, while Sections 15A and 15B detail the three reserved seats. As per reports, for the seats of Kashmiri Pandits/immigrants, the amended bill states that the J&K LG may nominate not more than two members to the J&K Legislative Assembly, one of whom shall be a woman from the community of Kashmiri migrants. Section 15B of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023 states that the Jammu and Kashmir LG may nominate one member to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly from among the displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ section of the new Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill states that during the time of militancy in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in the late 80s, particularly in 1989-90, a large number of people migrated from their ancestral places in Kashmir (Division), Kashmir province particularly from Kashmiri Hindu and Pandit as well as some families from Sikh and Muslim communities. Regarding displaced persons from PoK, the Bill states that in the wake of the Pakistani invasion of 1947 in Jammu and Kashmir, thirty one thousand seven hundred and seventy nine families migrated from the Pakistan occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Out of these, twenty six thousand three hundred and nineteen families settled in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and the remaining five thousand four hundred and sixty families moved out of Jammu and Kashmir to other parts of the country.