Centre to amend J&K Reorganisation Bill, reserve 1 seat for PoK displaced, 2 for Kashmiri Pandits

In what could be a mega push for conducting polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre is planning to amend the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 to allocate one seat in the State Assembly for displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and two seats for Kashmiri pandits. Displaced persons are those who have migrated from parts of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 and are now on the other side of the LoC. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, will be introduced in the Lok Sabha for approval. These reservations are being made to “preserve their political rights as well as for their overall social and economic development.” Who will nominate these members? These members will be nominated by the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is worth mentioning that after the recent delimitation process, the number of seats in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has increased from 107 to 114, with nine seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). How will it change J&K Reorganisation Act 2019? The new Bill will see an amendment to Section 14 of the existing Act. There will also be inclusion of two new sections — Sections 15 A and 15 B. The amendment to Section 14 will substitute ‘107 seats’ in the Act to ‘114 seats’, while Sections 15 A and 15 B detail the three reserved seats. As per reports, for the seats of Kashmiri pandits/migrants, the amended bill says J&K LG may nominate not more than two members - one of whom shall be a woman, from the community of Kashmiri Migrants, to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. The Section 15 B reads of the J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, reads that the J&K LG may nominate one member from displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. In the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ section, the new J&K Reorganisation Bill states that “at the time of the militancy in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir in the late eighties, particularly in Kashmir (Division) in 1989-90, a large number of people migrated from their ancestral places of residence, in Kashmir province particularly the Kashmiri Hindus and Pandits along with few families belonging to Sikh and Muslim communities”. Regarding people displaced from PoK, the Bill says, “in the wake of the 1947 Pakistani aggression in Jammu and Kashmir, thirty-one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine families migrated from Pakistan occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir to the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir. Of these, twenty-six thousand three hundred and nineteen families settled in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and remaining five thousand four hundred and sixty families moved out of the Jammu and Kashmir to other parts of the country. Further, during the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, ten thousand and sixty-five more families were displaced from Chhamb Niabat area. Of these, three thousand and five hundred families were displaced during the 1965 war and six thousand five hundred and sixty-five families were displaced during the 1971 war. As such, a total of forty-one thousand eight hundred and forty-four families were displaced during 1947-48, 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars.”