The political landscape of Assam has changed after almost 37 years when the President of India signed the Delimitation Notification of Assam by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on August 16. Reacting on the compelling development, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the President has approved the Delimitation Notification issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for Assam.
A significant milestone has been achieved in the history of Assam. For the leadership of BJP and its alliance, the delimitation might have a sufficient significance, but the opposition smells political agenda of the saffron party in the constitutional process.
Dissatisfaction Among Opposition
As the Election Commission of India has published the draft Delimitation of Assembly and parliamentary constituencies on June 20, the redrawn seats and rechristening of seats have evoked reactions in the political spectrum as many leaders will now have to restart or look for new seats.
“India is a secular nation where constituencies are determined by keeping in mind the well-being of the people. Reservation of constituencies is done based on the population pattern of a specific community. There has been no problem with the exercise of redrawing Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam”-Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam CM
Terming the constitutional exercise as politically influenced, Congress MP Gaurab Gogoi said, Election Commission publishes delimitation of Assam in 2023 based on 22-year-old census. Hence, no benefit to Assam in terms of increase in Lok Sabha seats. The result is reorganisation of existing seats to suit BJP’s voting trends. No wonder BJP doesn’t want the CJI to select ECs. Reacting to the dissatisfaction of opposition parties like Congress, AIUDF and Raijor Dal, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said India is a secular nation where constituencies are determined by keeping in mind the well-being of the people. Reservation of constituencies is done based on the population pattern of a specific community. There has been no problem with the exercise of redrawing Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam.
Only certain people who are staring at imminent electoral defeat are making noise against it. The opposition believes that delimitation will suit the ruling BJP by giving it a chance to safeguard its political fortune by winning Assembly and parliamentary seats. BJP said that it is purely a constitutional process and exercised by ECI only. The party has nothing to do with the process. The opposition lacks an agenda to reach out the voters before the General Election and is trying to use delimitation as a shield.
Migrant Muslim voters-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) party claims that delimitation will reduce the number of Muslim-majority Assembly constituencies in the State from 29 to 22. The Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal-led party also feels that as many as nine Assembly seats in which Muslim voters were in the majority or played a decisive role will be changed forever. AIUDF MLA Md. Aminul Islam said, “Due to the delimitation exercise the number of seats with absolute Muslims majority has decreased by nine. It seems that the delimitation process, undertaken by ECI, would benefit the Congress party and the EC even disregarded a writ pending in the Supreme Court on the issue before announcing the final order”.
Delineating the Delimitation Process
The delimitation process was conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) as a routine exercise after almost 37 years in Assam. ECI stated that it is a process to proportionate distribution of population amongst the constituencies and reservation of constituencies for ST and SC as per the Constitution of India to conduct elections in the States. The delimitation process was done on the basis of the 2001 census. The delimitation process in Assam was last carried out in 1976 based on the 1971 Census. The ECI conducted two rounds of public hearings on the draft proposal – before and after publication of the draft. As per the final delimitation, the number of Assembly seats remains 126, and Lok Sabha seats stand at 14 in the State.
The Election Commission of India has issued a final order on the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies for Assam. The number of Assembly seats remains 126, and Lok Sabha seats stand at 14. The order is now officially published in the gazettes of both the Central Government and the State of Assam.
Notably, the legislative Assembly seats for Scheduled Castes have increased from eight to nine, and one Lok Sabha seat has been reserved for the SC. On the other hand, reserved Assembly constituencies for Scheduled Tribe have increased to 19 and two Parliament constituencies are also reserved for the ST in the State.
As per the final order, SC Assembly seats have increased from eight to nine, while ST Assembly seats have gone up from 16 to 19. Moreover, the seats in the Bodoland area have also been increased by the poll panel in the delimitation proposal. One Assembly seat is increased in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous District council area.
The Election Commission of India stated that during the public hearing, it had received more than 1,200 suggestions and the final order took into account at least 45 per cent of the proposals and objections that the panel had received.
The Assembly constituencies whose nomenclatures have been revised are Mankachar (now Birsing Jarua), South Salmara (Mankachar), Manikpur (Srijangram), Bhowanipur (Bhowanipur-Sorbhog), Rupshi (Pakabetbari), Boko (Boko-Chaygaon), Hajo (Hajo-Sualkuchi), Gobardhana (Manas), Batadraba (Dhing), Nagaon (Nagaon-Batadraba), Sootea (Nadaur), Chabua (Chabua-Lahowal), Moran (Khowang), Dima Hasao (Haflong), Algapur (Algapur-Katlicherra), Badarpur (Karimganj North), North Karimganj (Karimganj South), South Karimganj (Patharkandi), and Ratabari (Ram Krishna Nagar). The Manas Assembly seat is named after Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The Kaliabor Lok Sabha seat, currently represented by Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, had been renamed as Kaziranga, named after the World Heritage Site Kaziranga National Park (KNP) with some changes in its boundaries.
ECI mentioned that one Parliamentary and some Assembly constituencies have been given “paired names” such as Darrang-Udalgiri, Hajo-Sualkuchi, Boko-Chaygaon, Nagaon-Batadraba, Bhowanipur-Sorbhog, and Algapur-Katlichera, in view of the demand from the public.
The Assam Cabinet on August 25 recreated four new districts with some changes in its boundaries which were abolished earlier. The newly created districts are Hojai, Biswanath Chariali, Tamulpur and Bajali. With this, the State will now have 34 districts
The All Assam Students Union (AASU) said that the delimitation exercise would secure the interests of Assam’s indigenous populations. The final draft has ensured that the political rights of the indigenous people will be safeguarded for a longer period by the delimitation. NDA partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) welcomed the final delimitation notification and said that the political dominance of the indigenous people will prevail by the delimitation. Ruling BJP also feels that the delimitation done by ECI will secure the political fortune of indigenous people for a long period. Many civil society organisations also welcomed the final delimitation notification and expressed satisfaction on the process. They feel, political rights of the indigenous people will remain intact as per the new boundaries of the constituencies. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said Politically Assam will be safeguarded. This is for the first time that some tribal communities of the North Bank will get an opportunity to represent themselves. The delimitation protects the rights of both tribals and non-tribals”.
The Last Option
Earlier, ten political parties from Assam filed a writ petition challenging the delimitation exercise in the Supreme Court. The ECI held public hearings on the draft delimitation proposal for Assam from July 19-21. Regional party Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India seeking stay on the constituency delimitation process. AIUDF had also filed a case in the SC against the draft delimitation proposal of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in Assam. But SC, on July 25, said that Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, allows the EC to conduct delimitation in the four North Eastern Indian States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. It is Constitutionally valid, and it would not stay the process.
The Assam Cabinet on August 25 recreated four new districts with some changes in its boundaries which were abolished earlier. The newly created districts are Hojai, Biswanath Chariali, Tamulpur and Bajali. With this, the State will now have 34 districts.
In the 100th Cabinet meeting, chaired by CM Sarma, also decided to create 81 new sub-districts. The move comes two weeks after the EC issued a final delimitation order on August 16, which saw large-scale redrawing of many constituencies both in Assembly and parliamentary level. On December 31, 2022, ahead of the EC deadline for starting the delimitation exercise in the State, the State Government abolished four districts and merged them with their parent districts. Announcing the decision, CM Sarma said, Since the delimitation process is over, the four districts will be functional again. But their boundaries have been reorganised as per the delimitation exercise.
