Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said today that his government has no information on when the process for delimitation of constituencies will be completed...
Digital Desk: Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said today that his government has no information on when the process for delimitation of constituencies will be completed.
Speaking in the assembly, CM Sarma stated that any questions the opposition may have about the process can be addressed to the Election Commission (EC) when its full team visits the state next week.
"The state government cannot say when the procedure will be completed because we are not directly or indirectly involved. EC is a central agency. Our only responsibility is to provide the data," he said in reply to a question on the delimitation process by Congress MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed.
The process began on January 1, the chief minister said.
Further, he added that the state's delimitation process was not halted due to the updating of the National Registry of Citizens (NRC).
The then-Congress government informed the delimitation committee that the law and order situation was unsuitable for carrying out the process at the time.
"When questioned if it could be done now, we said the situation has improved," he told the assembly.
Sarma asked MLAs to continue working equally for all areas within their constituency, without speculating on which areas would be eliminated once the delimitation procedure was completed.
"The entire EC bench is travelling here to meet with political parties and other stakeholders. I urge everyone to bring any concerns to their attention and have them resolved," he said.
In a follow-up query, Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha questioned the "hurry" in changing the number of districts in the state so soon after the EC's delimitation notification.
CM Sarma said that the EC issued the notification on December 27 and it went into effect on January 1.
"This period was provided so that the government could make changes in the boundaries to satisfy administrative exigencies," he stated.
He stated that once the delimitation process begins, no adjustments in administrative boundaries can be made until the process is completed.
Sarma stated that if the base year for the process is altered for the entire nation, another delimitation exercise may take place later.
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