NEW DELHI, 24 June 2021, (TON): Aday before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's all-party meeting with leaders from J&K, the delimitation commission on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) held a meeting with deputy commissioners (DCs) of all 20 districts in J&K.

In the meeting chaired by Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan, the DCs were asked about people's aspirations, the problems faced by the administration, ways to facilitate dialogue and current political scenario.

The commission has sought detailed data on demographics from the district commissioners.

The delimitation commission was set up six months after the Centre abrogated Article 370 and revoked J&K's special status in August 2019. The commission is headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai and was given an extension of one year in March.

Prior to J&K's bifurcation, the strength of the J&K Assembly was 87.

Besides these, there are 24 vacant seats in the J&K Assembly reserved for Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK).

The objective of the delimitation commission is to redraw boundaries of assembly constituencies in a way so that the population of all seats is numerically similar throughout the state. Besides changing the limits of a constituency, the process may result in change in the number of seats in J&K.

As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, the number of assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114.