Election Commission Starts 3-Day Public Hearing On Assam's Controversial Delimitation Draft

A full bench of the Election Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has started its three-day visit to Assam to hold talks on the state delimitation draft.

The team, which is in Guwahati today, will hold public sittings on suggestions, objections and proposals that the commission has received on the delimitation draft. The public sittings will be held till Friday in Guwahati and other districts.

Several organisations and parties have objected to the draft proposal.

The draft proposes a parliamentary seat named Kaziranga. The number of assembly seats has been retained at 126 and the number of Lok Sabha seats at 14.

The delimitation draft that had been stuck in limbo for 14 years is now seeing some forward momentum. The process of redrawing the borders of Assam's assembly and parliamentary constituencies was last done in 1976.

The current process started in 2005 and as many as 14 meetings were held by the delimitation commission and draft delimitation was presented in 2007. But it could not be completed due to objections since Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) was to be updated; in 2020, the centre amended the Representation of Peoples Act and now the Election Commission will carry out the delimitation exercise.

The opposition has questioned the timing of the Election Commission's move and the base year for delimitation. The AIUDF has gone to the Supreme Court against the exercise.

A matter of contention is that Assam has over 35 per cent Muslim voters and in its 126 assembly seats, Muslim voters decide who win in over 30 assembly constituencies and in six out of 14 Lok Sabha seats.

In 2021, when the BJP retained power it Assam, it had pitched its commitment to protect the political rights of indigenous people. The BJP says the people support this decision.

Political analysts say the process is trapped in Assam's complex demography and have raised questions on whether a constitutional process is being taken forward or it's only a political move.