The Election Commission of India (EC) has initiated the delimitation process for all 126 assembly and 14 parliamentary constituencies in Assam. Delimitation is the process of fixing boundaries of the territorial constituencies in a country or a state with a legislative body.
Key points
- The move to redrawing the assembly and parliamentary seats of Assam as per Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 has been initiated following a request from the Union Law Ministry.
- The delimitation process would see realignment of constituencies, the number of seats will remain unchanged.
- The process will use the 2001 Census figures for the readjustment of seats.
- The state government has been barred from creation of new administrative units with effect from January 1, 2023 till the completion of delimitation exercise in the state.
- Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act allows for delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur or Nagaland.
- In March 2020, the Government of India notified a Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.
- But in March 2021, when the Centre extended the term of the Delimitation Commission by a year, the North-East states were excluded from its mandate and the panel was told to redraw only the constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir.
- As mandated under Article 170 of the Constitution, census figures (2001) shall be used for the purpose of readjustment of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies in the State.
- Reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be provided as per Articles 330 & 332 of the Constitution of India.
- Under the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 1972, the last delimitation of constituencies in Assam was effected on the basis of 1971 census figures by the then Delimitation Commission in 1976.
84th Amendment to the Constitution
- The 84th Amendment to the Constitution in 2002 had put a freeze on the delimitation of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies till the first Census after 2026.
- While the current boundaries were drawn on the basis of the 2001 Census, the number of Lok Sabha seats and State Assembly seats remained frozen on the basis of the 1971 Census.
