EC begins 3-day public hearing on draft delimitation in Assam

Guwahati: The full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) reached here on Wednesday to hold a series of public hearings on draft delimitation proposals for Assembly and Parliament constituencies of Assam.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel along with senior officials of the ECI reached Guwahati this morning and started the three-day hearing at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra complex here.

An official of the election department told PTI that simultaneous hearings are taking place in three different halls. Kumar, Pandey and Goel are present in one hall each to hear the public suggestions.

During this public hearing, the ECI will meet and hold discussions with various stakeholders, including political parties and civil society, over the draft proposals on the delimitation exercise.

On the first day, suggestions for Kamrup Metropolitan, West Karbi Anglong, Chirang, Baksa, Dima Hasao, Kamrup, Udalguri, Karbi Anglong and Kokrajhar districts will be accepted.

Feedback on the draft for Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Karimganj, Darrang, Hailakandi, Cachar, South Salmara, Nagaon, Morigaon and Dhubri will be heard on Thursday.

On the last day, ECI will listen to the prayers regarding Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Golaghat and Majuli districts.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Assam had on Tuesday requested all public organizations to limit the number of representatives for each group to a maximum of five persons.

Following publication of the draft proposals, opposition parties and several social organisations slammed the ECI and alleged that the central poll body acted as a "puppet" of the ruling BJP.

However, the ECI has not reacted to the allegations yet.

Many political parties have also knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court against the entire delimitation exercise.

The ECI had on June 20 notified the draft delimitation document by retaining the number of Assembly seats in Assam at 126 and the Lok Sabha constituencies at 14. The state has seven Rajya Sabha seats.

As per the draft, the Assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Castes have been increased to nine from eight and for Scheduled Tribes to 19 from 16. For the Parliamentary constituencies, two have been proposed under the ST category and one for the SC community.

The poll panel has also planned to alter the geographical boundaries of most of the constituencies, both Assembly and Lok Sabha, while eliminating some seats and creating a few new ones.

An ECI team had earlier visited Assam on March 26-28 and held interactions with political parties, public representatives, civil society members, social organisations, members of the public and officers regarding the delimitation exercise.

In total, representations from 11 political parties and 71 other organisations were received and considered during that visit of the ECI.