Assam would remain same after redrawing of constituency boundaries, informs CEC Rajiv Kumar

Digital Desk: Assam's 126 assembly seats and 14 parliamentary seats will remain unchanged once the process of redrawing constituency boundaries is completed, said Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday.

"In the last two days, we met with nine recognised and state political parties and other organizations, as well as around 60 civil groups," further said the commissioner.

The TMC, BJP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP, Asom Gana Parishad, AIDUF, Bodoland People's Front, United People's Party Liberal, and three more registered parties, Assam Jatiya Parishad, Lok Raksha Party, and Raijor Dal, participated in the exercise, according to the chief election commissioner.

During a news conference in connection with the ongoing delimitation of constituencies in the state, CEC Rajiv Kumar remarked, "126 assembly seats and 14 parliamentary seats will remain the same." We have extended the deadline to April 15, and anyone can submit suggestions to the ECI during that time".

"We will publish a draught and will allow one month for suggestions," he added.

He went on to say, "During the delimitation procedure, we would endeavour to accept all ideas from political parties and organizations."  

The chief election commissioner said that those who participated in the exercise included the TMC, BJP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP, Asom Gana Parishad, AIDUF, Bodoland People’s Front, United People’s Party Liberal, and three more registered parties, Assam Jatiya Parishad, Lok Raksha Party and Raijor Dal.

The election official said that they had decided to discuss with the stakeholders before the publication of the draught of the delimitation exercise.

Kumar added that ECI received suggestions and recommendations from stakeholders and has taken note of them. 

The first recommendation they made was to postpone the 2001 Census in favour of the 2021 Census and another recommendation they provided was to enlarge the parliamentary constituencies, instead of maintaining them constantly,” Kumar remarked.

“A suggestion was that there should be a provision of 30 per cent variation in the areas of lower Assam, where the population growth is low. One issue was asked when delimitation was suspended in 2008, why it has begun all of a sudden, and when delimitation is due in 2026, why it is being carried out now?” he said.

He further added, “These suggestions were competing and conflicting claims, having people on both sides of the claim.” 

In response to Bhupen Kumar Borah, the president of the Congress Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, who claimed that the delimitation process involved match-fixing, CEC Kumar stated, "We are used to hearing this. There is no point of fixation since initial disclosure was done and then we took suggestions before the publication of draft.”