NEW DELHI — The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday expressed concerns over the draft delimitation for the upcoming elections in Assam and said that it is "woefully inconsistent and riddled with mistakes", and alleged that the poll panel deviated from norms in a bid to benefit the ruling BJP in the state.
Raising questions on the draft, AAP demanded that the poll panel either revise its proposal taking into consideration increase in population and other factors in Assam or withdraw it to carry out a fresh delimitation exercise along with other states in 2026.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]AAP's in-charge of northeastern states, Rajesh Sharma said that the Election Commission's failure to adhere to its own guidelines has resulted in the potential adverse impact on the administrative and governance systems and the violation of rights to fair representation for many ethnic and caste groups in Assam.
Addressing a press conference here, Sharma said: "The way the demarcation has been done in the draft is woefully inconsistent and riddled with mistakes. It fails to consider the growing population of Assam and its geographical location. The draft fails to consider the growing population of Assam and completely neglects the rights and concerns of various castes, communities, and ethnic groups, and other significant factors crucial to the demarcation process."
Commenting on the poll panel’s proposals, Sharma said the delimitation of the state legislative assembly and Lok Sabha seats should have been done on the basis of the latest census of 2011 to take into account the increase in the state’s population, but the poll panel made its recommendations based on the 2001 census.
“First delimitation in Assam was done in 1976 which was based on the 1971 census. Then the population of Assam was 1.46 crore. After that census was conducted in 2001 and 2011, but no census was conducted in 2021,” he said.
He also said that a delimitation exercise is carried out in any state based on the latest census data and geographical conditions.
“We saw delimitation was done based on the 2011 census in Jammu and Kashmir. We are in 2023 and Assam’s population is about 3.60 crore today. But for Assam, there is no valid reason why the EC came up with delimitation proposals based on the 2001 census data,” the AAP leader said.
He further said that despite a two and a half times increase in Assam's population, the poll panel has proposed to retain the number of assembly seats at 126 and Lok Sabha constituencies at 14.
He alleged that the Commission has only changed the boundaries of the state legislative assemblies and the Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam in an arbitrary manner.
Sharma questioned the timing and necessity of conducting delimitation in Assam when a nationwide delimitation is scheduled for 2026.
He asked whether this was a deliberate attempt by the ruling BJP to secure advantages.
He asked: "Why are we in such a rush that the delimitation of Assam should be done now, particularly when it could simply have coincided with the national delimitation?"
"The 42nd amendment to the Indian Constitution stayed the delimitation exercise for 25 years until 2001, which was extended by another 25 years till 2026," he said.
Sharma demanded that the EC either make changes in its draft proposal taking into consideration increase in population and other factors in the state or conduct a fresh exercise along with other states in 2026.
The poll panel released the draft delimitation document for Assam on June 20 and proposed to retain the number of assembly seats in the state at 126 and the Lok Sabha constituencies at 14.
The Commission also proposed that the assembly seats reserved for scheduled castes be increased from eight to nine and the scheduled tribes seats from 16 to 19.