New Delhi, Feb 24: The Delimitation Commission on Jammu and Kashmir will discuss the suggestions given by the MPs from the union territory on Thursday.
Headed by the former Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai, the Commission will discuss the proposal given by the five MPs, who are associate members of the panel.
The Commission has to submit its report by May 6.
The Delimitation Commission, set up in March 2020 six months after the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, was formed to redraw the parliamentary and assembly constituencies.
The panel was set up with a legislative back up, independent of the government and political parties, in its functioning.
On February 22, the Commission was given a two-month extension by the Centre.
Prior to this extension, the panel was given an extension of one year in March in 2021.
In December last year, the panel had proposed to increase six seats for the Jammu division and one for the Kashmir division, besides reserving 16 seats for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in the union territory which had evoked sharp reactions from the regional parties.
The five associate members are Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma, both Lok Sabha MPs from Jammu division and Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, all three are National Conference MPs from the Kashmir valley.
The Commission has two other official members, including Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioner (SEC) of Jammu and Kashmir K.K. Sharma.