Assam: Election Commission Team To Discuss Delimitation Exercise

GUWAHATI: The entire team from the Election Commission of India arrived here on Sunday for a three-day visit to the state in preparation for the delineation of constituencies in Assam. They will be holding consultations with various stakeholders, including political parties and civil society organisations.

Nitin Khade, the chief electoral officer for the state, announced that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel would meet with interested parties on Monday.

The task of redacting the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies of the northeastern state's territorial limits has been given to the EC.

In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Khade claimed that following the release of the proposal's draught, a delegation from the Electoral Commission typically travels to the affected states.

"The Commission will return after the draught proposal has been published in newspapers. To make the delimitation process more inclusive, participatory, and transparent, stakeholders will thus have two opportunities to engage with the Commission," he added.

The official announced that they would hold a press conference on Tuesday. According to a notification sent out by the Electoral Commission on December 27 of last year, the delimitation process will begin on January 1, 2023, using data from the 2001 census.

A senior official at the Office of the CEO told PTI that the basic work to start the exercise has started and that the final task will start after the CEC's visit. As the then-Congress government had written to the delimitation commission that the law and order situation was "unfavourable" for the exercise, the redrawing of seats had been put on hold, as the chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, had stated in the State Assembly earlier this month.

"We replied that the situation has improved now when asked if it can be done now," he continued.

The Assam Government resolved to combine four districts with the ones from which they were split into distinct ones by December 31, 2022.

Sonitpur and Biswanath were combined, as were Hojai and Nagaon, Tamulpur and Baksa, and Bajali and Barpeta.

Only one day before the Election Commission's ban on forming new administrative divisions in Assam from January 1, 2023, when the poll panel will handle the state's delimitation procedure, the decision to merge the districts was made.

The State Cabinet meeting, held in New Delhi, also amended the administrative authority over a few villages and a few towns. The Assam administration was sent two letters from the Gauhati High Court in March asking it to provide an explanation for the dissolution of Hojai and Biswanath districts within four weeks.

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