Assam Congress' Panel to Wage Legal Battle Against ECI’s Constituency Delimitation Draft

GUWAHATI: In a meeting on Tuesday, the political affairs committee of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) took the decision to carry on the fight against the ECI’s draft proposal on constituency delimitation in the state by waging a legal battle.

Meanwhile, it was also decided that the Congress will lead a delegation of like-minded parties to move the Election Commission of India (ECI) once more to air its complaints against the process by which the agency has been engaged in redrawing the assembly and parliamentary constituencies in the state.

APCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah strongly critiqued the action carried out on the protesters by the police during a protest in Barak Valley against the ECI’s draft delimitation, which was led by PCC working president Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha.

Borah also slammed the unsavoury remark by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma that Congress shops will remain closed for the next 50 years, in the event of the draft proposal for redrawing of the state’s constituencies is put into pratice.

Borah took umbrage at Himanta Biswa Sarma’s habitual use of the word ‘shop’ taken in association with the Congress. Borah alleged that when Sarma was in the Congress party, the principles of the party were “eroded and a shop-like atmosphere was created.”

In the meantime, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal also threatened to approach the courts in case the delimitation plan currently envisaged by the ECI is not scrapped.

AIUDF general secretary and MLA Aminul Islam informed that the AIUDF is in the process of carrying out a careful study of the points contained in the draft proposal and opined that his party is planning to submit their objections before the EC by July 11. In case the draft proposal is not junked, they will also approach the court, he added.

An ECI delegation is slated to visit Assam sometime in July to hear the objections regarding the draft, if any, submitted by different political parties. The deadline of submission of objections has been given as July 11.

Islam added that if ECI does not withdraw the points which are objected to by the AIUDF, they will move court. “Our party is currently exploring all possible options to thwart the draft plan,” Islam said.

Also Read: Amarnath Yatra 2023: J&K Administration, Police Hold Mock Drills; LG Reviews Preparedness

Also Watch: