Srinagar: At least 18 seats are likely to be reserved for scheduled castes(SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) in Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir.
News agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO) quoted unnamed officials as saying that as many as seven seats are likely to be reserved for SCs and 11 for STs.
They said the proportionate representation of SCs in the 90-member Assembly works out to 6.64 seats as they constitute 7.38 percent of J&K’s population.
“As their share works out to 6.64 seats, they will get 7 seats as a fraction more than one-half is counted as one,” they said.
According to them, the proportionate share of STs, who constitute 11.91 percent of J&K’s population, works out to 10.71 seats in the 90-member House.
“As a fraction more than one half is counted as one, STs will have 11 seats in J&K Assembly,” they said, adding that only SC and ST candidates can fight elections from the seats reserved for them.
According to Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act-2019, the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir or of the Scheduled Tribes in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in respect of which seats are so reserved, bears to the total population of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
If this plan is materiliased, this is for the first time when STs will have political reservation in Jammu & Kashmir. In the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, as many as seven seats were reserved for SCs but there was no such reservation for STs.
It is worthwhile to mention that a Delimitation Commission headed by Justice (retd.) Ranjana Desai was constituted by the Government of India in March 2020 to fix boundaries for new Assembly segments in Jammu and Kashmir. —(KNO)