Assam: Election Commission Publishes Final Order for Delimitation of Constituencies

GUWAHATI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday published the final order relating to the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies for State of Assam, which was done according to provisions of Section 8-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

The ECI’s final order was also notified and published in the gazettes of the Central Government and State of Assam, making it a binding one.

According to the ECI’s final order, the total numbers of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies have been kept unchanged at 126 and 14 respectively.

However, the poll panel has revised the nomenclature of one parliamentary and 19 assembly constituencies in its final order.

According to a statement by the ECI, a total number of 19 assembly and two Lok Sabha constituencies have been kept reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). Meanwhile, one Lok Sabha and 9 assembly constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs). Provisions laid down in Article 330 and 332 of the Constitution of India form the basis for reservation of constituencies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The delimitation of all the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the State were done on the basis on the 2001 Census as provided in Article 170 and Article 82 of the Constitution. For that purpose, the census figures of 2001, as published by the Census Commissioner, were only considered.

The final proposal for delimitation has been prepared by the ECI after an extensive consultative exercise held with stakeholders from diverse fields. The consultations included a pre- meeting before drafting of the report in March 2023, as well as three days of public hearings in Guwahati on the draft proposal in July 2023.

The Commission received many representations with conflicting views from members of the public, political parties, as well as organizations for changing the nomenclature of some Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies, while it was conducting the public hearings on draft delimitation proposal. The representations highlighted the historical, cultural, political, and ethnic significance of the region.

All the representations were duly heard by the Commission team, which comprised Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel. CEC Kumar had, at that time, expressed his appreciation at the ability of different groups of Assam in being able to present their conflicting claims on different issues in a respectful and friendly manner, while refraining from any confrontations or hostility.

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