Congress Skips Key Meet With Election Commission On Assam Delimitation

The opposition Congress in Assam skipped a key meeting alleging the Election Commission did not reply to its appeal on a meeting on district boundary irregularities. The Congress said the EC gave very less time to the party and alleged the meeting had a "predetermined objective."

The EC has once again sent an invite to the Congress for a meeting tomorrow before the full team leaves for Delhi from Guwahati.

Ahead of the delimitation of constituencies in Assam, the full team of the EC led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar arrived  in Guwahati on Sunday on a three-day visit for holding consultations with stakeholders, including political parties and civil societies.

"The Assam Congress had earlier met the EC in Delhi and asked them about the clarifications and the irregularities regarding district political boundaries. They told us they will meet our queries and we then gave them a reminder. We are waiting for a reply," Congress MLA and Assam Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia said.

"Now they are only giving 10-15 minutes and we don't think meeting them will be of any useful," Mr Saikia said.

EC sources said they have already given time to the Congress delegation ahead of everyone else at the very beginning in Delhi on January 4.

The Congress again sought time from the EC on March 22 for a meeting to which the EC replied that since it would visit Assam in the coming days, they will meet the Congress delegation in Guwahati.

"Individual response is not a practice and, in any case, cannot be given in connection to the delimitation exercise without hearing all the stakeholders," a senior EC official said.

"Responding to the EC's invitation, 10 recognised national and state political parties and 76 civil society organisations, public representatives and non-recognised political parties met the EC in Guwahati today," the official said.

Other opposition parties AIUDF and Trinamool Congress in their closed-door meetings with the EC have raised objections about the process, including the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC), the timing of the delimitation exercise ahead of the 2024 general election and apprehensions that it might alter boundaries of Muslim-majority constituencies.

"Delimitation was on hold since the NRC was not completed and all political parties had that time taken a consensus. Even now the situation remains the same as Assam NRC is not final. It has not been notified, so we don't know if the 19 lakh people left out from the NRC will figure in the voters' list or not," Assam Trinamool Congress chief Ripun Bora said.

The delimitation exercise for redrawing the territorial boundaries of the assembly and parliamentary constituencies of Assam, based on the 2001 census, had been stuck for 14 years. The last delimitation in Assam was done in 1976.

"The intention of the government is not clear. The entire country will have delimitation in 2026. So why is Assam having it now? We feel there is a conspiracy against some communities so that they don't have proper representation in parliament and assembly," said AIUDF general secretary Aminul Islam.

The ruling BJP has hit back at the opposition parties.

"There have been delimitation in the past as well. This delimitation process is long due, so we welcome the process and the EC initiative to come here and hold consultations. The opposition is trying to make an issue because they have nothing against the government as the government's performance is very good. There was delimitation during the Congress regime as well. It is not a new process," Assam BJP spokesperson Rupam Goswami said.