More Assembly Seats in J&K, But 24 to Stay Vacant Till PoK Comes to India: What Will Change After 370 Goes

New Delhi: The Bill passed in Rajya Sabha for the division of Jammu and Kashmir will lead to an increase the number of seats in the newly-constituted Assembly from 107 to 114. Of these, 24 seats would be deemed to be vacant till the time Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir comes under the jurisdiction of the Indian state.

The state assembly currently has 111 seats, of which 46 are in the Valley, 37 in Jammu and the remaining four are in the Ladakh division. After passing of the reorganisation bill in Parliament, Ladakh will be a Union territory to be administered by the Centre.

With the abrogation of Article 370, the tenure of the Assembly will now be five years as in other parts of the state. The state Assembly had a special status with a six-year tenure.

Also, the new Assembly shall have reservation for Scheduled Caste and Tribes as in other parts of the state.

The constituencies will be re-organised through a de-limitation exercise under the 2002 Act of Parliament. For the purpose of delimitation, the 2011 census figures will be taken as benchmark.

The also seeks to scrap the legislative council of the state to make J&K a unicameral polity.

The state will have a Chief Minister and a Lt Governor. And all the financial bills will need to cleared by the Lt Governor.

Jammu and Kashmir will also become the largest union territory (UT) in the country in terms of area once it is carved out. Ladakh, will be the second largest UT after it comes to force.

There has been a long pending demand from a section of people of Ladakh to turn it into a union territory.

With the addition of two new UTs, its total number will go up to nine — J&K, Ladakh, Delhi, Puducherry, Diu and Daman, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Currently, only two UTs — Delhi and Puducherry — have Legislative Assemblies. With the addition of Jammu and Kashmir, the number will go up to three.

The number of MPs from UTs may vary but all have representation in Parliament. For instance, Delhi sends seven MPs, the largest among union territories.

(With inputs from PTI)