GUWAHATI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) published the final order for the delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies for Assam today. The final proposal follows a gruelling and lengthy exercise with various stakeholders, including three days of public hearings in Guwahati last month.
A total of 1,222 representations were received by the ECI on the draft proposal. ECI states that they have addressed around 45 per cent of the total suggestions and objections in the final proposal.
The 126 seats of Assam in the Legislative Assembly have been retained and the number of Lok Sabha seats for the state has also been kept at 14, as per Articles 82 and 170 of the Constitution. All the Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the state have been delimited based on the 2001 Census, which was a bone of contention for many.
Nine seats have been allocated for Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the Legislative Assembly while one seat is allocated for them in the Lok Sabha. Moreover, 19 Assembly constituencies and two Parliamentary Constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). The reservation of constituencies for SCs and STs has been done on the basis of the provisions laid down in Articles 330 and 332 of the Constitution.
The lowest administrative unit has been taken as a “village” in rural areas and a “ward” in urban areas. SC assembly seats have increased from eight to nine while ST assembly seats have increased from 16 to 19.
The final proposal sees an increase of one assembly seat in Autonomous districts in West Karbi Anglong. Assembly constituencies in Bodoland districts have also increased from 11 to 15.
There will be one unreserved assembly constituency in Dhemaji. Moreover, one parliamentary seat namely “Diphu” has been reserved for ST which comprises six Assembly Constituencies of three Autonomous districts.
Two Parliamentary seats have been given to the Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj. Furthermore, one parliamentary seat has been named “Kaziranga” while one Assembly Constituency has been named “Manas”.
The ECI has revised the existing nomenclature of 19 Assembly Constituencies and one Parliamentary Constituency. Mankachar has been renamed as BirsingJarua while South Salmara has been rechristened as Mankachar. Manikpur will now be known as Srijangram and Bhowanipur has been renamed as Bhowanipur – Sorbhog.
Rupshi has been renamed as Pakabetbari and Boko will now be known as Boko-Chaygaon. Hajo will henceforth be called Hajo-Sualkuchi and Gobardhana will be known as Manas.
Batadraba will now be called Dhing whereas Nagaon will be known as Nagaon – Batadraba. Sootea has been renamed Nadaur while Chabua is now Chabua – Lahowal.
Moran has been renamed Khowang while Dima Hasao will henceforth be known as Haflong. Algapur is now Algapur – Katlicherra and Badarpur is now Karimganj North.
North Karimganj is now Karimganj South while South Karimganj has been renamed as Patharkandi. Ratabari is Ram Krishna Nagar now while Darrang will henceforth be known as Darrang – Udalguri.
The detailed delimitation report will soon be available on the ECI website which contains all the legal and constitutional provisions, delimitation statistics, guidelines, methodology, working paper, notified delimitation order, maps of Parliamentary Constituencies of the state, district-wise maps of Assembly Constituencies, press notes and the list of representations received on the draft proposal from political parties, organisations, and members of the public.