The Election Commission has initiated delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Assam – acting on a request from the union Ministry of Law and Justice.
The EC asked the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam to convey it to the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma’s government to ban creation of new administrative units in the state from January 1, 2023 till the end of the delimitation exercise.
As mandated under Article 170 of the Constitution, the 2001 census data would be used for the purpose of readjustment of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies in the State. The seats will be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as per Articles 330 and 332 of the Constitution, the poll-panel stated on Tuesday.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been in power in the northeastern state since 2016, had promised delimitation of the constituencies in its manifesto for the assembly polls in 2021.
The saffron party is of the view that delimitation of constituencies is necessary for implementation of the Clause VI of the Assam Accord – a tripartite agreement signed by the Centre, Government of Assam and the leaders of the “Assam Agitation” on August 15, 1985 to end the six-year-long stir led by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) against illegal immigration from neighbouring Bangladesh.
The Centre and the State Government agreed, according to the Clause Vi of the accord, to provide constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese.
The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) – a political party active in the state – had earlier sought deferment of the delimitation exercise.
Assam has 14 Lok Sabha and 126 assembly constituencies. The state will go to polls again in 2026.
The state government gave its go-ahead to the delimitation exercise earlier this year and conveyed to the Centre this month that if it was conducted now, it would not trigger any law and order problem in the state.
The BJP is apparently in favour of expediting delimitation of the constituencies to rule out the possibility of the minority community turning into deciding factor in at least six of the 14 parliamentary constituencies in Assam.
The EC stated that it would design and finalize its own guidelines and methodology for the purpose of delimiting the constituencies.
“During the delimitation exercise, the Commission will keep in mind the physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facility of communication, public convenience and as far as practicable, the constituencies will be kept as geographically compact areas,” the poll-panel stated on Tuesday.
Under the provisions of Delimitation Act, 1972, the last delimitation of constituencies in Assam was done on the basis of census figures, 1971 by the then Delimitation Commission in 1976.