Gazette notified, J-K delimitation final: EC tells Supreme Court

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 5

The delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir has attained finality after the publication of the Delimitation Orders in Gazette Notifications on May 5 in terms of the Delimitation Act, the Election Commission has told the Supreme Court.

Before publication of the final order, a number of public sittings were held to accord full opportunity to members of the public to make oral and written submissions before the Delimitation Commission, the poll panel said in an affidavit filed in response to a petition challenging the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir.

Under Article 329(a) of the Constitution, there was a bar on judicial interference regarding the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies, it pointed out. Citing Section 10(2) of Delimitation Act, the EC said, “Upon publication in the Gazette of India, every such order shall have the force of law and shall not be called in question in any court.”

Earlier, the Centre had also asserted that the delimitation exercise in the newly created UT had become final and it couldn’t be challenged in courts. It had said the petition was nothing but a “frivolous attempt to challenge the Delimitation Commission without any basis”.

A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul is likely to take up the petition filed by Srinagar residents Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Mohammad Ayub Mattoo on October 13.

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