ECI concludes three-day public hearing on draft delimitation proposal for Assam

Guwahati (Assam) [India], July 21: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday concluded the three-day public hearing on the draft delimitation proposal for Assam in Guwahati with a hearing of representations from the remaining nine districts in the state.
The Election Commission of India held public hearings on the draft delimitation proposal for Assam from July 19 to 21 in Guwahati.

The Commission comprising Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel held hearings from representatives of political parties, civil society organisations and members of the public on the draft Delimitation proposal during the last three days.

The public hearings are part of the consultative exercise by the Commission during the process of delimitation.
During the last three days, the Commission heard over 1200 representations from 31 districts and held meetings with over 20 political parties.
In total, more than 6000 persons participated in the public hearings over the last three days.
On July 20, hearings lasted more than 20 hours, cumulatively, as the three Commissioners conducted parallel hearings at three venues.
The screening of the gist of the 1000-odd representations received prior to the sittings, facilitated an on-the-spot confirmation of vital facts and identity of the stakeholder participation in this important exercise, the Election Commission said.

It further said that the representatives from National Parties - Aam Aadmi Party, Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Bhartiya Janata Party; State Parties - All India United Democratic Front, Asom Gana Parishad, United Peoples Party Liberal and Bodoland People’s Front shared their feedback and suggestions before the Commission.
United Opposition Forum Assam (Assam Pradesh Congress, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPM, Raijor Dal, CPI, Jatiya Dal Assam, NCP, RJD, Janata Dal (U), TMC, CPI(ML) and others) and several Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs) also participated.
Some salient features of the representations during public hearings included the increase of SC Assembly seats from 8 to 9 and ST Assembly seats from 16-19 was widely welcomed by different organizations.
The poll body further said that several organizations also welcomed the draft proposal based on the census 2001 and were largely satisfied with the draft delimitation proposal.
“The people and organizations from four Bodoland districts and three Autonomous Hill Council districts welcomed the proposal. However, there was a demand for a further increase of Assembly seats in Dima Hasao, West Karbi Anglong and Karbi Anglong districts owing to the large hilly geographical area and the sparsely populated inhabitations. The people from Bodoland Territorial Area also demanded the creation of one more ST Parliamentary seat for the Udalguri and Baksa districts. If not, at least the name of Darang PC to be changed to Udalguri,” the commission said in an official statement.
A few representations from Barak Valley welcomed de-reserving the Parliamentary Constituency of Karimganj. However, several representations from Barak Valley demanded that Assembly seats in the valley should be restored from 13 to 15 while welcoming the draft proposal, many organizations requested for change of nomenclature of some Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies, highlighting the historical, cultural, political, and ethnic significance of the region such as Narsingpur AC to Dholai, Gobardhan AC to Manas, Darrang PC to Darrang-Udalguri, Batadraba AC to Dhing, Badarpur AC to Karimganj North, North Karimganj AC to Karimganj South, South Karimganj AC to Patharkandi, Ratabari AC to Ramkrishna Nagar, Moran AC to Khowang, Dima Hasao AC to Haflong, Hajo AC to Hajo-Sualkachi, Bhowanipur AC to Bhabanipur-Sorbhog, Chabua AC to Chabua-Lahowal and Algapur AC to Algapur-Katlichera.
The election body further said that a few organizations from the lower Assam, central Assam and Barak Valley districts also requested for maintaining the compactness, contiguity of the constituencies and keeping intact the administrative units as far as possible.
The Commission has prepared detailed guidelines and methodology for the draft delimitation proposal keeping in view the constitutional and legal provisions, physical features, density of population, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience and suggestions received in the representations after the consultative exercise in March 2023.   
During the public meetings held in last three days, the commission heard all the representations from different sections of society and organizations and assured due consideration of all the representations within the constitutional and statutory provisions.
Rajiv Kumar said that this attitude is conducive to constructive dialogue and open-mindedness, allowing for a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives.
Based on these suggestions and Constitutional and legal provisions, the Election Commission of India published the draft proposal for the delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies as provided for in Section 8A of the RP Act 1950.
The draft proposal was also notified in the official Gazette of the Central and State Government on June 20.
Accordingly, the Commission had issued a public notice for inviting suggestions or objections to the draft proposal from the public before July 11.
The Delimitation proposal seeks to retain the number of Lok Sabha seats at 14 and the number of Assembly seats at 126. 
The Scheduled Tribes are proposed to be allocated 19 seats out of 126 seats in the State Assembly, and 2 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats.
The Scheduled Castes are proposed to be allocated 9 seats in the Assembly, and One seat in the Lok Sabha.
The last delimitation exercise in Assam was carried out in 1976.