New Delhi: The AAP on Friday termed “full of anomalies” the Election Commission’s draft on delimitation for Assam 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, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party 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.
Releasing the draft delimitation document for Assam on June 20, the Election Commission (EC) proposed to retain the number of assembly seats in the state at 126 and the Lok Sabha constituencies at 14.
In a host of recommendations, the poll panel 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.
On the poll panel’s proposals, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in-charge for northeastern states Rajesh 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 EC 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.
The AAP leader underlined 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,” he said.
Despite a two and a half times increase in Assam’s population, the EC has proposed to retain the number of assembly seats at 126 and Lok Sabha constituencies at 14, Sharma added.
“The EC’s draft on delimitation is full of anomalies with several deficiencies. In its draft proposal, the EC has not taken into consideration changes in the state’s demography, geographical conditions, various castes and social groups,” Sharma told reporters at AAP headquarters here.
He alleged that the EC has only changed the boundaries of the state legislative assemblies and the Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam in an arbitrary manner. “It’s an attempt to benefit the ruling BJP,” the AAP leader charged.
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.
“What is the hurry? Why has such a discriminatory draft been published? Why has various castes and other social groups not been taken into consideration?” he asked.
The AAP leader said that the party raised the issue with the EC in a letter to it on Friday and demanded that it reconsider the draft on delimitation.
“This draft will create a lot of problems in the state in the future. Delimitation should be done to safeguard the rights of every caste and social group, and to ensure that everyone gets due representation,” he added.