Draft Delimitation: CEC Appreciates Friendly Presentation of Conflicting Claims

HEARING ON DRAFT DELIMITATION

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar today said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) patiently heard all the representations from different sections of society and organizations and assured due consideration of all the representations within the constitutional and statutory provisions. The CEC appreciated the ability of different groups to present their conflicting claims on various issues, with detailed reasons for their points of view, in a respectful and friendly manner without creating confrontations or hostility. He added that this attitude is conducive to constructive dialogue and open-mindedness, allowing for a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives.

During the last three days, the Commission heard over 1,200 representations from 31 districts and held meetings with over 20 political parties. In total, more than 6,000 people participated in the public hearings over the last three days. In marathon sittings on July 20, hearings lasted more than 20 hours cumulatively as the three commissioners conducted parallel hearings at three venues. Similar was true for July 19 and July 21. The screening of the gist of the 1,000 odd representations received prior to the sittings facilitated an on-the-spot confirmation of vital facts and the identity of the stakeholder participation in this important exercise.

Some salient features of the representations during public hearings are:

(i) The increase of SC Assembly seats from 8 to 9 and ST Assembly seats from 16 to 19 was widely welcomed by different organizations.

(ii) Several organizations also welcomed the draft proposal based on the 2001 Census and were largely satisfied with the draft delimitation proposal.

(iii) The people and organizations from four Bodoland districts and three Autonomous Hill Council districts welcomed the proposal. However, there was a demand for a further increase of Assembly seats in Dima Hasao, West Karbi Anglong, and Karbi Anglong districts owing to the large hilly geographical area and the sparsely populated inhabitations. The people from Bodoland Territorial Area also demanded the creation of one more ST Parliamentary seat for Udalguri and Baksa districts. If not, at least the name of the Darang parliamentary constituency should be changed to Udalguri.

(iv) A few representations from Barak Valley welcomed de-reserving the Parliamentary Constituency of Karimganj. However, several representations from Barak Valley demanded that Assembly seats in the valley be restored from 13 to 15.

(v) While welcoming the draft proposal, many organizations requested for change of nomenclature of some Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies, highlighting the historical, cultural, political, and ethnic significance of the region such as Narsingpur AC to Dholai, Gobardhan AC to Manas, Darrang PC to Darrang-Udalguri, Batadraba AC to Dhing, Badarpur AC to Karimganj North, North Karimganj AC to Karimganj South, South Karimganj AC to Patharkandi, Ratabari AC to Ramkrishna Nagar, Moran AC to Khowang, Dima Hasao AC to Haflong, Hajo AC to Hajo-Sualkachi, Bhowanipur AC to Bhabanipur-Sorbhog, Chabua AC to Chabua-Lahowal and Algapur AC to Algapur-Katlichera.

(vi) A few organizations from the lower Assam, central Assam, and Barak Valley districts also requested maintaining the compactness and contiguity of the constituencies and keeping intact the administrative units as far as possible. Based on these parameters, they suggested shifting a few villages or panchayats from one constituency to another. The maximum number of representations were of the nature of requesting the shifting of one or two villages or panchayats from one constituency to another.

(vii) Many people from the Sivasagar district submitted representations for the restoration of Amguri AC in their district, citing the historical and political significance of the place.

(viii) A few representations questioned the timing of the exercise, while others sought its deferment to permit a better understanding of the methodology being adopted.

(ix) Several representations focused on very specific village and block-level concerns and requests based on geographical features, distances, remoteness, historicity, etc.

(x) In many cases where the representations brought to the attention of the Commission some issues related to natural barriers like rivers, etc., the Commission gave on-the-spot directions to the respective District Magistrates seeking factual details with proper maps so that a considerate view can be taken on the issues raised.

(xi) Many representations were purely aspirational and raised issues beyond the scope of the exercise.

(xii) The United Opposition Forum Assam apprised the Commission that they had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the draft delimitation proposal, and the matter is listed in the Supreme Court for hearing on July 25, 2023.

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