GUWAHATI:
The interim delimitation exercise to be carried out in Assam and three other states is “illegal” and “unconstitutional”, Assam Trinamool Congress president and former Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora said here on Monday.
On December 27, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had taken an initiative to carry out a delimitation exercise to limit the boundaries of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Assam with effect from January 1 based on the 2001 census report.
“The delimitation is a democratic exercise and it is carried out by a Delimitation Commission. But the Delimitation Commission which was set up by the Union government in 2001 is now defunct. It has not existed. Now ECI is planning to carry it out. It will be a bureaucratic exercise as there is no representative of the people in this exercise. Hence it is illegal,” Bora said addressing a press conference at his party office here.
“However, we can’t move the court against this delimitation exercise. There are some technical difficulties for a political party to move the court against it. We, therefore, urge all non-political organizations to move the court against this illegal exercise,” Bora said.
On December 31, the state cabinet in a crucial meeting in New Delhi remerged four districts- Bajali, Tamulpur, Hojai and Biswanath with their original districts from where they were bifurcated to expedite the delimitation exercise.
“For this delimitation exercise, the state government has remerged four districts with their parent districts. This decision was taken in a hurriedly convened cabinet meeting in New Delhi. All these districts were created by them and these are functioning,” Bora also said.
“We found no reason behind it. By doing it Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has proved that he is the inscription of Muhammad bin Tughluq (an intelligent fool),” Bora further said.
“These four districts have been remerged because of the delimitation exercise. We opposed the decision and demanded the government roll back it immediately. By remerging the districts with the original districts from which they were bifurcated, the government pushed back the development of these areas,” Bora said.
The TMC will stage a series of protests at Tamulapur on January 4, Bajali on January 5, Hojai on January 6 and Biswanath on January 7 demanding the withdrawal of the cabinet decision for remerged of the four districts.
The TMC leader said according to the new guidelines of the ECI, the boundary of an assembly constituency will be delimited within the boundary of the district. “Only because of this, the state government has remerged the four districts. Instead of it, the Chief Minister can resolve the issue technically. Some constituencies will be small and some will large. It will have no impact on development,” he said.
“Moreover, it is also an attempt of the Chief Minister to cover up his failure and a lot of burning issues including price hikes, unemployment and deteriorating law and order. After this, the people will concentrate on delimitation instead of raising their voices for these important issues,” he also said.
“This interim delimitation is also unnecessary. In 2008, the Delimitation Commission has suspended the exercise in Assam as the true population would not be reflected in the absence of the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). This ground still exists. The NRC is yet to be accepted by the government,” he further said.
“In 2026 there will be another national delimitation exercise. It will be carried out all across the country. With just left for three years, what is the need for this interim delimitation right now,” he questioned.