Srinagar, Nov 02 : Jammu & Kashmir’s State Election Commissioner, Kewal Kumar Sharma would replace Hirdesh Kumar as member of the delimitation commission constituted by the Central government earlier this year for Assembly and Parliamentary segments of J&K Union Territory, sources disclosed.
Highly placed sources in J&K government told news agency-KNO that Sharma would now be part of the three-member delimitation commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai.
The Election Commissioner Sushil Kumar Chandra is other member of the panel.
Constituted in March this year, the panel is mandated to fix boundaries of 90 Assembly segments of J&K and reserve seats for schedule castes and scheduled tribes within them.
It has also been empowered to undertake delimitation of five parliamentary segments of J&K UT.
The Commission has been constituted under J&K Reorganization Act,2019 and Delimitation Commission Act, 2002.
Sharma, who was an advisor to J&K LG, resigned last week after his appointment as first full-fledged SEC.
It is worthwhile to mention here that Sharma, a 1983-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, was appointed advisor to the Lieutenant Governor in November last year.
During his service career spanning some 30 years, he has held key positions, including the Chief Secretary of Delhi and Goa.
He also served as secretary in the Human Resource Development Ministry before his retirement. Sharma has served as advisor to the administrator of Chandigarh too.
