Beyond a boundary

The delimitation exercise borders on gerrymandering

Political considerations rather than constitutional proprieties appear to have influenced the delimitation of the Assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) by the fifth Delimitation Commission, which submitted its recommendations late last week. First, it is unclear why the exercise was undertaken when there was a freeze on the readjustment of parliamentary and Assembly seats in India until 2026. In setting up the fifth Delimitation Commission, the government has chosen to sidestep this restriction by invoking a section of the J&K Reorganisation Act of 2019, which raised the number of seats in Jammu and Kashmir from 83 to