Mata Vaishno Devi seat created in Reasi, Paddar in Kishtwar
Udhampur, Kathua bifurcated; Suchetgarh, Domana cease to exist
JAMMU, Feb 6: The Delimitation Commission has reserved nine seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs)—six in Jammu division and three in Kashmir and seven for Scheduled Castes, all in Jammu region including four in Jammu district alone as against three in the last Assembly.
Among six new seats in Jammu division, one each additional constituency has been created in Doda, Udhampur, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri and Kishtwar districts while boundaries have been redrawn in many districts and a seat with the name of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi has also been created comprising areas of Katra and parts of Reasi.
Boundaries of all five Lok Sabha seats have also witnessed changes and, as exclusively reported by the Excelsior today, entire Poonch district and areas of Rajouri district have become part of South Kashmir with the creation of Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat. This has assured parity in the Parliamentary seats with Jammu and Kashmir divisions having two and half seats each.
Seven seats which have been reserved for Scheduled Castes include Bishnah, RS Pura, Marh and Akhnoor (all in Jammu district), Ramgarh (Samba), Kathua South (Kathua) and Ramnagar (Udhampur). RS Pura seat is already reserved since 1996 and four Assembly elections have been held on it without being rotated. Rest all six seats reserved for SCs previously including Chhamb, Domana, Samba, Hiranagar, Chenani and Ramban have been dereserved.
Nine seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes are Darhal, Thanna Mandi, Surankote, Mendhar, Poonch Haveli and Mahore (all in Jammu division) and Larnoo, Kangan and Gurez in Kashmir.
Six new seats in Jammu division have been created in Doda, Udhampur, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri and Kishtwar districts (one each).
In Reasi district, total number of seats remained three but a new seat named Shri Mata Vaishno Devi has been created comprising areas of Katra and parts of Reasi. Two other seats will be Reasi and Mahore.
In Udhampur district, Udhampur segment has been bifurcated into Udhampur West and Udhampur East besides two other seats will be Chenani and Ramnagar.
Similarly, Kathua Main has also been bifurcated into Kathua South and Kathua North while four other constituencies are Hiranagar, Bani, Billawar and Basohli.
In Samba district, an additional seat of Ramgarh was created while two other segments are Samba and Vijaypur.
In Rajouri district, an extra seat of Thanna Mandi has been created while Kalakote has been clubbed with Sunderbani and named Kalakote/Sunderbani constituency. Three other segments are Darhal, Rajouri and Nowshera.
Doda West is the new seat created in Doda while Doda and Bhaderwah are two other segments. However, in Kishtwar, Paddar is the new constituency and Inderwal has been renamed as Mughal Maidaan. Kishtwar is third seat in the district.
Jammu district will continue to have 11 seats but boundaries of most of the constituencies have been redrawn.
Suchetgarh and Domana constituencies have been omitted from the map. While Suchetgarh has been merged with RS Pura and Bishnah, both of which are reserved seats, Domana has become part of Jammu West, Marh etc.
Eleven seats of Jammu include Jammu East, Jammu West, Jammu North, Jammu South, Bahu, Bhalwal-Nagrota, Khour, Akhnoor, Bishnah, RS Pura and Marh.
Boundaries of all five Lok Sabha seats have also been re-drawn.
Reasi district has been deleted from Udhampur-Lok Sabha constituency and added to Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat.
Udhampur-Doda segment will now comprise Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Udhampur and Kathua districts
Ghagwal and Rajpura areas of Hiranagar Assembly seat which are part of Samba district have been added to Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat.
Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat will now comprise Samba and Jammu districts and Kalakote-Sunderbani Assembly constituency of Rajouri district.
Entire Poonch district and Rajouri, Nowshera and Thanna Mandi Assembly constituencies of Rajouri district will be part of Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary seat. Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian districts will be part of this seat from South Kashmir.
The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha Constituency will comprise Assembly segments including Zainapura, Damhal Hanjipora, Kulgam, Devsar, Dooru, Larnoo, Anantnag West, Anantnag, Pahalgam, Nowshera, Rajouri, Darhal, Thanna Mandi, Surankote, Poonch and Mendhar.
The new Jammu Lok Sabha will now consist of the Assembly segments like Mahore, Reasi, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Ramgarh, Samba, Vijaypur, Bishnah, R.S. Pura, Jammu South, Bahu, Jammu East, Bhalwal-Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh, Akhnoor, Khour and Kalakote-Sunderbani.
These 18 Assembly segments are spread over four districts with composition of Jammu 11 seats, Reasi 3, Samba 3 and Rajouri one.
The Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency will now be spread over five districts, as against six in the past.
The new constituency will now have Assembly segments including Mughal Maidan, Kishtwar, Paddar (Kishtwar district), Bhaderwah, Doda, Doda West (Doda district), Ramban, Banihal (Ramban district), Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chenani, Ramnagar (Udhampur district), Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Kathua North, Kathua South and Hiranagar (Kathua district).
In Jammu district, Jammu East Assembly constituency will comprise parts of Jammu tehsil, Bain Bajal, Aitham, parts of Nagrota tehsil, Jagti, Ward Nos. 1-11, Ward Nos 14-19 and Ward No. 71 while Jammu West segment will have parts of Jammu tehsil, Ward Nos 12 and 13, Ward Nos 24-33 and 39-41, Jammu West tehsil, Mandal and Gole areas.
Jammu North seat will comprise Ward Nos 37-39, 59-67 and 34-36 besides parts of Bhalwal tehsil. Jammu South will have areas of Jammu South tehsil, Gadigarh, Satwari, Hakkal and Khanwal partly, Digiana, Jammu Cantonment, Ward Nos 22 and 23, Ward Nos 55-58 and 73, Ward Nos 68-70, parts of Bahu tehsil, Chowadi, Dansopur and parts of RS Pura tehsil.
Bahu constituency will have areas like Sunjwan, Ward Nos. 20 and 21 and Ward Nos 42-44, Ward Nos 47-54 and 74, parts of Jammu South tehsil and Ward Nos. 45 and 46.
In Kashmir valley, the Srinagar Lok Sabha Constituency will be spread over five districts, as against three in the past.
The newly designed Lok Sabha constituency will have two Assembly segments from Ganderbal district, eight from Srinagar, three from Budgam, four from Pulwama and one from Shopian district.
The Srinagar Lok Sabha Constituency will have the Assembly segments including Kangan, Ganderbal (Ganderbal district), Hazratbal, Khanyar, South Srinagar, Sonawar, Chanapora, Zoonimar, Eidgah, Central Shalteng (Srinagar district), Khan Sahib, Charar Sharief, Chadoora (Budgam district), Pampore, Tral, Pulwama, Rajpora (Pulwama district) and Shopian (Shopian district).
In North Kashmir, the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency will be spread over four districts including part of Budgam district in the Central Kashmir.
The Baramulla Lok Sabha seat will comprise Karnah, Kupwara, Trehgam, Lolab, Handwara, Langate (Kupwara district), Sopore, Rohama-Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Tangmarg, Kunzer, Pattan (Baramulla district), Sonawari, Bandipore, Gurez (Bandipore district) and Budgam and Beerwah (Budgam district).
