Delimitation exercise in four Northeast States halted

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Centre has excluded Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland from the purview of the Delimitation Commission's mandate for the time being.

The development has halted the entire exercise of delimitation of Parliament and Assembly constituencies in four north-eastern States.

Delimitation literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body. Such exercise is carried by a body known as Delimitation Commission or a Boundary Commission.

The Delimitation Commission was set up in 2020 after a panel headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai laid the groundwork to start the delimitation exercise in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland in Northeast besides Jammu & Kashmir.

The Election Commission of India, not the Delimitation Commission, is mandated by Section 8A of the Representation of the People (RP) Act of 1950 to carry out delimitation in the four NE States based on the Presidential order.

Sources said that the Centre is considering amending Section 8A of the RP Act with retrospective effect to enable the Delimitation Commission to conduct the exercise in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh.

The Centre is also considering the possibility of introducing a Constitutional amendment Bill that would use the 2011 Census data instead of the 2001 Census data as the basis for delimitation in the four NE States, as mandated by the 87th Constitutional amendment. The same Delimitation Commission can resume work in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland once the required amendments are in place.

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