Speaker Om Birla has nominated 15 MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh to assist the Delimitation Commission in redrawing the Lok Sabha and the Assembly constituencies of the northeastern States and the Union Territory.
Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Jitendra Singh and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah are among the 15 MPs who will be associates of the Delimitation Commission.
According to a May 26 Lok Sabha bulletin, Mr. Abdullah, Mohammad Akbar Lone Hasnain Masoodi, Jugal Kishore Sharma and Mr. Singh will be the panel’s associate members from Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Rijiju and Tapir Gao will represent Arunachal Pradesh and Pallab Lochan Das, Abdul Khaleque, Rajdeep Roy, Dilip Saikia and Naba (Hira) Kumar Sarania will represent Assam.
While Lorho S Pfoze and Ranjan Singh Rajkumar represent Manipur, Tokheho Yepthomi will be from Nagaland.
The appointments were made after the Commission had recently written to Mr. Birla and other presiding officers of the Assemblies to nominate associate members. They will help the panel in its task.
Jammu and Kashmir at present has no Assembly. It is a Union Territory with a provision of a legislature.
The Commission, constituted on March 6 headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, met on Thursday to review its work.
Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and State Election Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir and the four northeastern States will be its ex-officio members.