NEW DELHI: A key legislative push by the Union government to reshape political representation in Jammu and Kashmir has been put on hold after Parliament failed to pass the Constitution amendment bill underpinning it.
Alongside that amendment, the government had also introduced two related bills, the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. With the constitution amendment failing to secure the required two-thirds majority, the government chose not to press the other two associated bills.
However, these bills have not been withdrawn and remain listed in the Lok Sabha registry, leaving them open to revival.
Had the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill been adopted, it would have significantly altered how representation in Jammu and Kashmir is structured, building on the delimitation exercise of 2020 that reshaped the Assembly ahead of the 2024 elections.
The 2020 delimitation had increased the total Assembly strength to 119 seats, including 114 elected seats, while retaining 24 seats for Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Of the 90 active seats, 43 were allocated to Jammu and 47 to Kashmir, a distribution that narrowed the gap between the two regions despite population differences.
Shift in who controls delimitation
Until now, the power to determine the number of seats and redraw constituencies has flowed from laws passed by the Parliament, with the Delimitation Commission working within a fixed framework defined in statute and based on a specific census (earlier the 2001 and then the 2011 census).
In Jammu and Kashmir, the 2019 Reorganisation Act and subsequent amendments clearly set the Assembly strength and guided delimitation accordingly.
The proposed law would have changed that balance. It shifts the core authority to the Delimitation Commission itself, allowing it to determine both the total number of seats and their territorial distribution, based on a census that Parliament may notify in the future.
In effect, instead of Parliament fixing numbers and the Commission merely implementing them, the Commission would gain a much wider role in shaping representation.
Assembly size becomes flexible
The bill replaces the earlier fixed structure with a more open-ended one. It sets only a minimum strength of 114 seats, while leaving the final number to be decided after delimitation.
This means future exercises could increase, or rebalance, seats between Jammu region and Kashmir valley, potentially revisiting the delicate regional distribution created in 2020.
The bill also brings Parliamentary (Lok Sabha) constituencies under the same delimitation framework. While the bill did not specify the allocation of five Lok Sabha seats for Jammu and Kashmir, their boundaries and internal composition would be subject to readjustment by the Delimitation Commission.
This aligns Assembly and Lok Sabha representation under a single, future-driven delimitation process.
The proposed amendments allow the number of nominated members in the Assembly to increase to three, provided that delimitation has taken effect. This provision would have slightly expanded the Centre’s indirect presence in the Assembly.
Women’s reservation tied to delimitation
The bill aligns Jammu and Kashmir with the national framework on women’s reservation. Around one-third of seats would be reserved for women, but only after delimitation is completed and new constituencies are drawn.
The provision reserving 24 seats for areas under Pakistan’s control remains unchanged. These seats will remain vacant and are excluded from the Assembly's effective strength.
To avoid disruption, the bill allows elections to continue under existing constituencies until delimitation is completed and the current Assembly’s term ends.
Taken together, the proposed changes do not immediately alter the present Assembly or Lok Sabha configuration. Instead, they create a framework for future restructuring of political representation.
By making both Assembly and Parliamentary seat allocation dependent on a future census and delimitation exercise, the law would have made Jammu and Kashmir’s political map more fluid and more dependent on decisions taken at the national level.
For now, with the Constitution amendment bill failing in Parliament, these changes remain in abeyance. But as the two pending bills remain in the legislative pipeline, the question of how representation in Jammu and Kashmir will evolve remains open.
Have you liked the news article?