Existing nomenclatures of 19 Assembly constituencies and one Parliamentary constituency revised
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) today published the final order for delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam. In the final order, the ECI has revised the existing nomenclatures of 19 Assembly constituencies and one Parliamentary constituency. Around 45% of the objections that were raised by the public and various organizations have been addressed in the final order. According to the final list, 19 Assembly constituencies and two Parliamentary constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) while nine Assembly constituencies and one Parliamentary constituency have been reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs).
The Commission, during the public hearings on draft delimitation proposal, received many conflicting representations from members of the public, political parties, and organizations for change of nomenclature of some Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies, highlighting the historical, cultural, political, and ethnic significance of the region. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar appreciated the ability of different groups of Assam to present their conflicting claims on various issues in a respectful and friendly manner, without creating confrontations or hostility.
According to the final order, the nomenclature of Mankachar assembly constituency has been changed to BirsingJarua; that of South Salmara assembly constituency to Mankachar; that of Manikpur assembly constituency to Srijangram; Bhowanipur assembly constituency to Bhowanipur-Sorbhog; Rupshi assembly constituency to Pakabetbari; Boko (ST) assembly constituency to Boko-Chaygaon (ST); Hajo (SC) assembly constituency to Hajo-Sualkuchi (SC); Gobardhana assembly constituency to Manas; Batadraba assembly constituency to Dhing; Nagaon assembly constituency to Nagaon-Batadraba, Sootea assembly constituency to Nadaur; Chabua assembly constituency to Chabua-Lahowal; Moran assembly constituency to Khowang; Dima Hasao (ST) assembly constituency to Haflong (ST); Algapur assembly constituencyto Algapur-Katlicherra; Badarpur assembly constituency to Karimganj North; North Karimganj assembly constituency to Karimganj South; South Karimganj assembly constituency to Patharkandi; and Ratabari (SC) assembly constituency to Ram Krishna Nagar (SC).
On the other hand, the nomenclature of Darrang Parliamentary constituency (original name Mangaldai) has been changed to Darrang-Udalguri and the Kalibor Parliamentary constituency has been changed to Kaziranga.
The lowest administrative unit has been taken as ‘Village’ in rural areas and ‘Ward’ in urban areas. Accordingly, village and ward have been kept intact and have not been broken anywhere in the State. The final list has been prepared based on administrative units of development i.e., Development block, Panchayats (VCDC in BTAD) and village in rural areas and Municipal Boards, wards in urban areas.
The SC assembly seats have increased from 8 to 9 while ST assembly seats have increased from 16 to 19. One assembly seat has been increased in autonomous districts in West Karbi Anglong district. In the Bodoland region, the number of Assembly constituencies has increased from 11 to 15. The Diphu and Kokrajhar Parliamentary seats have been reserved for ST while the Lakhimpur Parliamentary seat will continue to be unreserved. One Assembly constituency has been unreserved in Dhemaji district. The Parliamentary seat of Diphu has been reserved for ST and it comprises six Assembly constituencies of three autonomous districts. Two Parliamentary seats have been given to the Barak Valley districts i.e., Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts. One Parliamentary seat has been named as ‘Kaziranga’, while one Assembly constituency has been named as ‘Manas’.
Efforts have been made to keep all constituencies, as far as practicable, as geographically compact areas, and in delimiting them, the physical features, density of population, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience have been considered. Due to huge inter-district variation in certain cases in factors such as geographical features, density of population, means of communication, public convenience, contiguity of the areas and necessity to avoid breaking of administrative units and as constituencies cannot be delimited having exactly equal population in all cases, deviation to certain extent from the State and District average has been allowed. In the State of Assam, since last delimitation (1976), the number of districts have increased from 10 to 31 and similarly, number of administrative units at Development Block and Gram Panchayat levels have undergone drastic changes.
The Commission has categorized all 31 districts in three broad categories A, B and C giving margin of (+/-) 10% of average population per Assembly Constituency (AC), while proposing allocation of the constituencies to the districts. The average population density of the state is 338 persons per sq.km. A population density range of 304 (subtracting 10% from the average
population density) to 372 (adding 10% to the average population density) has been established and on this basis, the above said three categories are –
A- Districts having population density less than 304 persons per sq. km.
B- Districts having population density between 304 to 372 persons per sq.km.
C- Districts having population density more than 372 persons per sq. km.
As per the final order, the Kokrajhar (ST) Parliementary constituency will include Gossaigaon, Dotama, Kokrajhar, Baokhungri, Parbotjhara, Sidli-Chirang, Bijni, Manas and Baksa assembly constituencies.
The Dhubri Parliamentary constituency will include Golakganj, Gauripur, Dhubri, BirsingJarua, Bilasipara, Mankachar, Jaleshwar, Goalpara (east), Srijangram, Mandia and Chenga assembly constituencies.
The Barpeta Parliementary constituency will include Abhayapuri, Bongaigaon, Bhowanipur- Sorbhog, Barpeta, Pakabetbari, Bajali, Hajo-Sualkuchi, Barkhetri, Nalbari and Tihu assembly constituencies.
The Darrang-Udalguri Parliamentary constituency will include Tamalpur, Goreswar, Rangia, Kamalpur, Bhergaon, Udalguri, Majbat, Tangla, Sipajhar, Mangaldai and Dalgaon assembly constituencies.
The Guwahati Parliamentary constituency will include Goalpara (West), Dhudnoi, Chamaria, Boko-Chaygaon, Palasbari, Dispur, Dimoria, New Guwahati, Guwahati (Central), and Jalukbari assembly constituencies.
The Diphu Parliamentary constituency will include Bokajan, Howraghat, Diphu, Rongkhang, Amri and Haflong assembly constituencies.
The Karimganj Parliamentary constituency will include Hailakandi, Algapur-Katlicherra, Karimganj (North), Karimganj (south), Patharkandi and Ram Krishna Nagar assembly constituencies.
The Silchar Parliamentary constituency will include Lakhipur, Udharbond, Katigorah, Barkhola, Silchar, Sonai and Dholai assembly constituencies.
The Nagaon Parliamentary constituency will include Jagiroad, Lahorighat, Morigaon, Dhing, Rupohihat, Samuguri, Nagaon-Batadraba and Raha assembly constituencies.
The Kaziranga Parliamentary constituency will include Kaliabor, Barhampur, Binnakandi, Hojai, Lumding, Golaghat, Dergaon, Bokakhat, Khumtai, and Sarupathar assembly constituencies.
The Sonitpur Parliamentary constituency will include Dhekiajuli, Barchalla, Tezpur, Rangapara, Naduar, Biswanath, Behali, Gohpur and Bihpuria assembly constituencies.
The Lakhimpur Parliamentary constituency will include Rongonadi, Lowboicha, Lakhimpur, Dhakuakhana, Dhemaji, Sissibargaon, Jonai, Sadiya, and Doomdooma assembly constituencies.
The Dibrugarh Parliamentary constituency will include Margherita, Digboi, Makum, Tinsukia, Chabua-Lahowal, Dibrugarh, Khowang, Duliajan, Tingkhong and Naharkatia assembly constituencies.
The Jorhat Parliamentary constituency will include Sonari, Mahmora, Demow, Sibasagar, Nazira, Majuli, Teok, Jorhat, Mariani, and Titabor assembly constituencies.
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