The Election Commission on Tuesday held the first meeting todiscuss delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir. During the meeting, initialdiscussions were held on delimitation of Assembly constituencies in the region.

The meeting was attended by Chief Election CommissionerSunil Arora, election commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, and othersenior officials of poll body.The discussion on delimitation of constituenciescomes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centreabrogated Article 370 and announced that the state would be divided into twoUnion Territories – Jammu and Kashmir with an Assembly, Ladakh withoutAssembly.

Even prior to the announcement of bifurcation of Jammu andKashmir by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, reports had said that the Centre wasconsidering fresh delimitation of constituencies. It was said that the decisionwas based on the belief that Jammu region was discriminated against, as therewere more Assembly seats in the Kashmir region. Even Ladakh had allegeddiscrimination. According to earlier reports, the Union Ministry of HomeAffairs was mulling the appointment of a delimitation commission to study thefeasibility of the exercise. The commission was slated to take into account thepopulation and area of different parts of the region, following which it wouldmake relevant recommendations. A report was also sent to the Centre by GovernorSatya Pal Malik with regard to the exercise

This comes shortly after abrogation of Article 370, whichgranted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The Union Territories of J&Kand Ladakh are slated to come into existence on October 31, the birthanniversary of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Currently, there is unprecedented security across Jammu andKashmir to avoid any untoward incident. Elaborate precautionary arrangementshad been made by the government before the announcement on Article 370abrogation was made. According to authorities, the situation has been peacefulin the region.