Delimitation bill provides for European Commission to conduct exercises in Pakistan-occupied J&K areas

New Delhi: The Delimitation Bill, 2026, has incorporated a clause authorizing Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) to be an integral part of India, in line with New Delhi’s consistent position. election committee The J&K constituencies currently occupied by Pakistan will be delimited once they “cease to be occupied by Pakistan”.The J&K Assembly electoral strength is 90; this does not include the 24 seats in POJK that remain “vacant” and are not taken into account in calculating the total membership of the Assembly. The Union Territory Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 empowers the Delimitation Commission to decide the revised number of seats in the J&K Assembly, which shall not be lower than the current 114 seats. It overturned the provisions of the J&K Reorganization Act that excluded POJK areas and seats, while delimiting territorial constituencies in J&K.The bill proposes to amend Section 15 of the J&K Reorganization Act to increase the number of women nominated by the LG to the J&K Assembly from two to three. However, this amount will only increase based on the new delineations once the constituency realignment comes into effect.According to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, the provisions of the Government of the Union Territory Act, 1963, the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 are based on the existing constitutional framework regarding population, delimitation and reservation.