Guwahati: Opposition parties in Assam have criticised the ongoing delimitation exercise in the state being conducted by the Election Commission (EC), alleging it to be “predetermined and politically motivated” and a possible “cause of deprivation of Assamese people from justice”.
A team of EC officials led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar was on a three-day visit to Assam beginning Sunday to monitor the exercise, which sees the readjustment of Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies to represent changes in population.
While Kumar, in a press conference Tuesday, said that the delimitation will see no change in the number of Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in Assam — 126 and 14, respectively — he admitted that concerns have been raised over why the EC was using 2001 Census figures and not the last Census records of 2011.
The delimitation in Assam comes in the backdrop of existing concerns and debate on the finality of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Published on 31 August 2019, the final NRC had excluded 19.22 lakh people out of nearly 3.3 crore applicants — 6 per cent of the state’s population.
The process of delimitation requires Parliament to first enact a Delimitation Act under Article 82 and clause (3) of article 170 of the Constitution. Once the Act is in effect, the Union government creates a Delimitation Commission, entrusted with the power to redraw the boundaries of each assembly and Lok Sabha seat, considering a recent census. The process is to ensure each seat has an almost equal number of voters.
Explaining why the EC was conducting the exercise and not the Delimitation Commission, Kumar cited Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
“If the President is satisfied that the situation and the conditions prevailing in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur or Nagaland are conducive for the conduct of delimitation exercise, he may, by order, rescind the deferment order issued under the provisions of section 10A of the Delimitation Act, 2002 (33 of 2002) in relation to that State, and provide for the conduct of delimitation exercise in the State by the Election Commission,” he said.
On why the delimitation exercise in Assam was using the Census 2001 figures instead of the latest 2011 Census and why the number of seats won’t be increased, Kumar cited Article 170 (3) of the Constitution which states “Upon the completion of each census, the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of each State and the division of each State into territorial constituencies shall be readjusted by such authority and in such manner as Parliament may by law determine”.
He further said that in the present case, that law is Section 8A of The Representation of the People Act, 1950, which refers to the Delimitation Act of 2002 (which in turn uses the 2001 Census as the basis for delimitation).
The delimitation exercise in Assam was thus being carried out “under constitutional and legal provisions”, the CEC assured.
Opposition parties in Assam have, however, questioned whether a delimitation based on the 2001 Census will “serve any meaningful purpose”. Section 8A only allows reorientation and rules out any change in the total number of parliamentary and Assembly constituencies.
At a press meet in Guwahati Tuesday, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhupen Borah alleged that the election commission is involved in “match-fixing” with CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government while undertaking the delimitation exercise. The party had on Monday turned down the EC invitation for a meeting on the delimitation exercise — for the third time.
While CM Sarma had clarified a week back that the state government was not involved in the delimitation process either directly or indirectly, the Opposition doesn’t seem to be convinced.
Kumar has, meanwhile, tried to address the concerns of stakeholders, insisting that the EC wants to make it a “participatory and inclusive” process.
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Delimitation in Assam long overdue
Delimitation panels were set up in India four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002. In Assam, the last delimitation of constituencies in Assam was carried out in 1976, based on the 1971 Census figures.
The Delimitation Commission had completed the exercise under Delimitation Order 2008 for all states except the four northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. It was deferred here due to security concerns, through separate presidential orders.
Twelve years later, on 28 February, 2020, the government issued a notification rescinding the 2008 deferment order, while observing that there was a significant improvement in the security situation in the state and also a reduction in insurgency incidents.
The erstwhile Congress government under former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and the then opposition BJP had also been opposed to delimitation in Assam in 2008. They wanted the exercise to be done only after the updating of the NRC with the BJP looking to root out “illegal immigrants” from the state. While the NRC process in Assam started in 2013, the actual exercise to update it began in February 2015.
On Tuesday, CEC Kumar clarified that delimitation and the NRC processes are “two different aspects” and there was no “legal bar” on carrying them out separately and simultaneously.
‘Understanding to get this exercise completed’
Meanwhile, the Congress has been raising the issue of the state government merging four state districts with four others in January, even before the delimitation exercise was done.
Among other parties, the regional Purbanchalia Lok Parishad (PLP) submitted a memorandum to the CEC Monday stating that delimitation should be taken up only after a correct voter list with registered genuine citizens is prepared, and the priority for the government is to ensure that no foreign nationals find place in the NRC. ThePrint has a copy of the memorandum.
The PLP also raised concerns as to why the delimitation was happening just before the 2024 parliamentary elections, and on the basis of 2021 Census records when the delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies for the entire country will take place in 2026.
Another regional party, the Raijor Dal, in a press statement Monday, said it had submitted facts and proofs to the EC to suggest there had been no change in the reasons for which the delimitation was deferred in 2008. The party also alleged that the BJP government has decided to merge a few districts with their parent districts so that the population composition of the majority of constituencies “would be favourable to them for creating new voter bases”.
Talking about its meetings with political parties, civil societies and ethnic groups, Kumar said, however, that “there’s an understanding to get this exercise completed”.
“We have held discussions with almost 60-65 organisations apart from political parties, and constructive suggestions have come, suggesting there’s an understanding to get this exercise completed,” he said.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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