Explained: why J&K politicians are citing 2011 Census to reject delimitation panel's proposal

The delimitation commission's proposal of giving Jammu six additional assembly seats and just one to Kashmir is facing stiff opposition from the major political parties in the Valley.

NC leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted that the proposal was unacceptable and not justified according to the 2011 Census data.

PDP chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti too tweeted against the proposal and said that it proves her apprehensions about the commission weren't misplaced. She also accused the commission of ignoring the population census.

The J&K Delimitation Commission has been tasked with redrawing assembly constituencies in the union territory based on the 2011 Census.

According to an NDTV report based on the 2011 Census, Kashmir has a population of 68.8 lakh compared to Jammu’s 53.5 lakh – that means Valley has 15 lakh more people.

In the former state of J&K, Jammu had 37 seats, Kashmir had 46 and Ladakh 4 seats.

Now, according to the delimitation commission’s proposal – Jammu would have 43 seats and Kashmir 47.

According to the NDTV report, once the new assembly constituencies are created, seats in Kashmir will have a population ratio of 1.46 lakh against 1.25 lakh in Jammu province.

Since delimitation is an exercise of redrawing boundaries of an assembly or Lok Sabha constituency based on population, parties from the Valley contend that Kashmir region should get more seats.