Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that President Droupadi Murmu has given her approval for the delimitation of the assembly as well as the parliamentary constituencies. Sarma took to his twitter handle wherein he shared the screenshot of the approval of the Delimitation Notification issued by the Election Commission of India for Assam.
Today the Honorable President has approved the Delimitation Notification issued by the Election Commission of India for Assam.
A significant milestone has been achieved in the history of Assam.
Jai Maa Bharati
Jai Aai Asom pic.twitter.com/TAtJShfxK0— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) August 16, 2023
What role did Election Commision of India play in delimitation of constituencies in Assam?
The Election Commision of India, before taking a final call on the delimitation process gave a fair chance of hearing to all. Therefore while preparing a draft on the delimitation process, the commission invited proposals from various political parties, people, and organisations for change of nomenclature of some parliamentary and assembly constituencies.
Before finalising the proposals, the Election commission, which comprised the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioner, they all heard the various representations before taking a final call. The commission ensured that everything was in the realm of constitutional and statutory provisions.
For three days, there were public hearings in Guwahati on the draft proposal in July 2023 and a pre-meeting before the drafting of the report in March 2023.
The Election Commission of India issued a statement in which it said that they have maintained the count of assembly constituencies at 126 and Lok Sabha seats at 14, though they have significantly modified the nomenclature of one parliamentary and 19 assembly constituencies as delineated in the preliminary notification.
Meanwhile, it was last week that the Election Commission published the final order for the delimitation of parliamentary and Assembly constituencies in Assam, as mentioned in Section 8-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
Discontent among Minority, indigenous outfits to sitting MLAs
The delimitation of Assam has not gone down very well among the leaders of the minorities as complaints have emerged regarding the slashing of seats for minorities to sitting legislators expressing distress over the loss of their constituencies.
Badruddin Ajmal, the chief of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), which has strong support of Muslims of the Bengal origin, expressed displeasure and added that they would approach the Supreme Court against the ECI’s delimitation order, saying it had reduced “Muslim seats by 10-11”.
The districts where seats have been reduced in the final order are South Salmara, Barpeta (two seats less), Darrang, Nagaon, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Jorhat, Hailakandi and Karimganj. Of these, South Salmara, Barpeta, Darrang, Nagaon, Hailakandi and Karimganj are Muslim-majority districts.
Rejaul Karim Sarkar, president of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU), reiterated a similar point and added that presently about 30 Muslim legislators are voted to the 126-member Assembly and according to the new delimitation, this number will reduce this to around 20.
The removal of some constituencies during the delimitation process has also caused a stir in Upper Assam, considered the “Assamese heartland”, and even within the BJP’s ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
