The Election Commission on Tuesday published the draft delimitation proposal for Assam by keeping the number of Assembly and Lok Sabha seats unchanged but increasing the number of Assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The Census figure of 2001 was considered for the delimitation exercise, a statement issued by the EC said.
Assam has a total of 126 Assembly seats and 14 Lok Sabha seats.
Also Read | Explained: What is the new delimitation exercise by Assam?
According to the draft proposal, the number of Assembly seats has increased from 16 to 19 for the STs and from eight to nine for the SCs.
The number of Assembly seats in the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Region has increased by three to 19. Similarly, the hilly West Karbi Anglong district has gained an Assembly constituency.
While there is no change in the number of Lok Sabha seats, a proposal has been made to name one constituency after Kaziranga.
Divided on 2001 census
“In total, representations from 11 political parties and 71 other organisations were received and considered,” the EC said, adding that the commission went through their suggestions. Some groups were in favour and some against the delimitation on the basis of the 2001 Census, the EC said.
The commission weighed the proposal of looking into the “change of demographic pattern” in the State with some districts registering a low population growth and some abnormally high.
The commission was told that the low population growth districts should not be put to disadvantage and number of seats in these districts should not be reduced.
There was a proposal for allowing a variation of 25% vis-à-vis the general norms to ensure that no social group feels alienated due to inadequate representation. This would also take care of diverse geographical features of Assam during the delimitation exercise, the EC was told.
Suggestions and objections have been invited till July 11, following which a team from the commission would visit Assam for a public hearing on the draft proposal.
