EC publishes final report on Assam delimitation; names of 1 Lok Sabha, 19 assembly seats revised

The public hearings were part of the consultative exercise by the Commission during the process of delimitation.

The Election Commission on Friday published its final report on the delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Assam, keeping their total numbers unchanged at 126 and 14, respectively.

In its final order, the poll panel has revised the nomenclature of one parliamentary and 19 assembly constituencies. According to a statement by the poll body, 19 assemblies and two Lok Sabha constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). One Lok Sabha and nine assembly constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

It said more than 1,200 representations were considered before finalising the report. Forty-five per cent of the suggestions and objections received by the panel were addressed in the final order. All assembly and parliamentary constituencies in the state were delimited (redrawn) based on the 2001 Census. "The Census figures of 2001, as published by the census commissioner, have thus alone been considered for this purpose," it noted.

One parliamentary and some assembly constituencies have been given "paired names" such as Darrang-Udalgiri, Hajo-Sualkuchi, Boko-Chaygaon, Nagaon-Batadraba, Bhowanipur-Sorbhog, Algapur-Katlichera, in view of the demand from members of the public, the poll panel said.

Referring to certain salient features of the final report, the Election Commission (EC) said the lowest administrative unit has been taken as village’ in rural areas and ward’ in urban areas. Accordingly, the village and ward have been kept intact and have not been broken anywhere in the state. SC assembly seats have increased from eight to nine, and ST assembly seats have gone up from 16 to 19.

There has also been an increase in assembly constituencies in Bodoland districts from 11 to 15. 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 public sittings organised in Guwahati in July to provide an opportunity to the people, public representatives, political leaders and other stakeholders to express their views.

The public hearings were part of the consultative exercise by the Commission during the process of delimitation. All those who filed suggestions and objections in response to the public notice, were specifically heard. During these three days, the Commission heard over 1,200 representations from 31 districts and held meetings with over 20 political parties, the statement said.