Umer Maqbool
Srinagar, Mar 25: As the Union Government is contemplating an increase in the strength of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats across states and Union Territories to implement political reservation for women ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, the plan, if implemented, will significantly overhaul politics in the Union Territory.
The Centre is toying with the idea of increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies of States and Union Territories by 50 percent.
Applying this formula, the strength of Assembly seats in Jammu & Kashmir would rise from 90 to 135, while the Lok Sabha seats would increase from five to seven or eight.
Out of the total seats, the Centre plans to reserve 33 percent for women. This would mean 45 seats reserved for women in the J&K Assembly, and two seats in the Lok Sabha if the number of seats is increased to seven, or three seats if it goes up to eight.
The Centre is already trying to build consensus across the political spectrum for making legal changes to ensure political reservation for women becomes applicable before the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
It is holding consultations with different parties, including opposition parties in the Lok Sabha.
The National Conference, the only regional party with representation in Parliament, says it has not been consulted by the Union Government on the matter.
“No such consultation has been held with us,” NC’s Rajya Sabha MP Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan said.
He said he participated in a meeting of the opposition INDIA bloc over the issue.
“It was decided in the meeting that the Centre should convene an all-party meeting on the proposed move to explain the contours of the proposed legislations and provide clarity on it,” he said.
The proposal, if implemented through legal changes, would also apply to the J&K Assembly polls in 2029. The current term of the Assembly is set to expire on November 3, 2029.
If the Centre is able to pass the proposed legislations, it would immediately constitute a delimitation commission for redrawing the boundaries of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats.
As per the proposal, the 2011 Census would be the basis for the delimitation exercise.
The existing legal framework provides that women’s reservation will only apply after the 2027 Census is completed and constituencies are redrawn through delimitation based on that data.
