United Forum of ex-NDFB demands creation of Udalguri parliamentary seat

KOKRAJHAR: After ABSU, BSU, BPF, Boro Somaj and All Assam Tribal Students’ Union (AATSU), the United Forum of ex-NDFB has also demanded the creation of Udalguri parliamentary constituency reserved for ST to ensure more political power to the indigenous tribal people.

The United Forum of ex-NDFB led by its president Chila Basumatary and secretary Dil Ranjan Narzary on Friday submitted memorandum to Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner of India, Ninachan Sadan, New Delhi through the Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner on the delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), namely, Kokrajhar, Udalguri, Chirang and Baksa and demanding creation of new parliamentary constituency in the name of Udalguri ST (P) parliamentary constituency. In the larger public interest, they put forward the memorandum for making objections and suggestions towards the reserved seats in the 6th scheduled areas falling under Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). They said as per table - B of the notification under reference, at SL No. I - the name of the parliamentary constituency reflects as Kokrajhar (ST) but all the constituencies for Assam Legislative Assembly have not been reserved for the ST (P) that includes - Gossaigaon, Baokhungri, Parbatijhora, Bijni and Gobardhana though the aforesaid constituencies are predominantly inhabited by tribal people and are covered under the provisions of 6th schedule of the Constitution of India. They demanded that all the assembly constituencies falling under the Kokrajhar (ST) parliamentary constituency should be reserved for ST (P) as have been done in the case of Diphu (ST) wherein all the constituencies have been reserved for the ST.

The memorandum said so far as SI. No. 4 is concerned, Darrang has been shown as parliamentary constituency and out of 11 assembly constituencies, 6 constituencies-Tamulpur (ST), Goreswar, Bhergaon, Udalguri (ST), Mazbat and Tangla fall under Udalguri district of BTC, again covered under the 6th schedule of the Indian Constitution. They said as per amendment of Indian Constitution subsequent to the clause 4.7 of the Memorandum of Settlement MoU of BTC accord, 2003 signed by the Government of India, Government of Assam and the Bodo leaders, it has been established that the provisions of article 332 (6) of the Constitution will be so modified that the existing status of representation of BTC area in the state assembly is kept intact.

After the creation of BTC, the parliamentary and assembly constituencies would be delimited by the Delimitation Commission in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. Besides, the article-332 of the Constitution of India stipulated “Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the legislative assemblies of the states” and article-332 (6) stated that “No person who is not a member of a Scheduled Tribe of any autonomous district of the state of Assam would be eligible for election to the legislative assembly of the state from any constituency of that district.”

The United Forum of Ex-NDFB stated that aforesaid 6 assembly constituencies listed under Udalguri district falls under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution of India comprising 44-Goreswar, 45-Bhergaon, 47- Mazbat, 48- Tangla falls within the territory of BTC and are covered by the 6th Schedule of the Constitution of India for which they cannot be falling under the Darrang parliamentary constituency.

The Forum demanded for review of the draft delimitation process and take note of the demands of indigenous tribal people. The forum reiterated that the task undertaken for delimitation of the constituencies as per the notification in reference stands to contradict the constitutional provisions of the 6th schedule areas, more particularly the BTC areas which also stand in violation of article 332 (6) of the Constitution of India. The forum also demanded to declare all state assembly constituencies falling in BTC to be reserved for ST (P) as the same are within the territorial jurisdiction of BTC which is protected under the 6th schedule of the Constitution of India. They also demanded that Udalguri should be created as 2nd parliamentary constituency under BTC reserved for ST.

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