Time may be running out for a plea in Supreme Court challenging J&K delimitation

A letter from petitioners’ lawyers to Registrar cites urgency saying delimitation exercise may get “over soon”

Time may be running out for a petition filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre’s decision to appoint a Delimitation Commission headed by former apex court judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the former State.

The petition filed by two Jammu and Kashmir residents, Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, wants the Supreme Court to also examine why Jammu and Kashmir has been “singled out” for delimitation when Article 170 of the Constitution says that such an exercise for the entire country was due only in the year 2026.

The case was filed on March 28 this year. On April 13, the petitioners’ lawyers, senior advocate Ravi Shankar Jandhyala and advocate Sriram Parakkat, made an oral mentioning in court for an early listing of the case. The court had directed its Registry to list the case before an appropriate Bench.

But a letter from the petitioners’ lawyers to the Registrar, Supreme Court, on April 27 showed the case had still not been listed. The letter pointed out the urgency in the case. It said the delimitation may get “over soon”, by May 6, 2022.

“It is most respectfully submitted that the matter be listed before an appropriate Bench,” Mr. Sriram Parakkat wrote in his letter.

The petition argued that the Centre had usurped the jurisdiction of the Election Commission by notifying the delimitation of Jammu and Kashmir.

It highlighted how the Centre had first issued a notification on March 6, 2020 constituting the Commission led by Justice Desai to conduct the delimitation of the constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. However, the Centre had issued a second notification on March 3, 2021 restricting the scope of delimitation to Jammu and Kashmir alone.