What will happen to Lok Sabha members from J&K?

New Delhi: In the two historical developments that took place on Monday, the government abrogated article 370 that gave the state of Jammu & Kashmir the special status and managed to get the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019 passed in the elders' house, Rajya Sabha. The bill seeks to convert the border state into two union territories – Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. While J&K will be a Union territory with a legislature similar to Delhi, Ladakh will be a Union territory without a legislature, directly ruled by New Delhi through a lieutenant governor appointed by President. Once the bill is passed by Parliament and assented by the President, it will reduce the number of Indian states from 29 to 28 and the number of union territories will go up from 7 to 9.

Now the question everyone wants to know the answer of is what will happen to the elected Loksabha and Rajyasabha members of Jammu & Kashmir as the state is going to be reshaped, geographically and politically.

Reshaped J&K, geographically and politically

Post the passage of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019, the state of Jammu & Kasmir will be deleted from entry number 15 in the list of states and will be inserted in the list of union territories after entry number 7. The new number of UTs will be 9. The Union territory of Ladakh will have two districts – Leh and Kargil. Remaining 20 districts including capital Srinagar will be part of the Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir. These districts are Srinagar, Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, Reasi, Rajouri, Poonch, Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar, Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Budgam, Ganderbal, Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara.

The LS MPs will remain the same, with redefined areas

New UTs J&K and Ladakh will have the same number of six Lok Sabha seats. Five will be given to J&K and one seat to Ladakh. As the bill gets the ascent of the President, Election Commission of India will carry out the delimitation exercise for determining the area of the Lok Sabha seats that belong to Jammu & Kashmir and the entire Ladakh will be part of one Lok Sabha seat. However, elected members of the 17th Lok Sabha will remain the same however their seats will be altered under the delimitation exercise.
Similarly, with Rajya sabha, UT of Jammu & Kashmir will have representation in the Rajya Sabha with four Rajya Sabha members. However, J&K will be now be deleted from entry number 21 where the state is situated, will be entered at the entry number 31 in the list of states and UTs having representation in the Rajya Sabha. Remaining entries from 22 to 30 will be renumbered as 21 to 30.