The commission stated over 1,200 representations were considered before finalising the proposal and 45% of suggestions and objections have been addressed in the report.
EC revised the names of 19 Assembly constituencies and one Parliamentary seat.
All constituencies have been delimited based on the 2001 Census as provided in Article 170 and Article 82 of the Constitution. 19 assembly 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). SC seats have increased to 9, from 8 while ST seats have risen to 19, from 16.
There is an increase of one assembly seat in autonomous districts in West Karbi Anglong district while constituencies in Bodoland districts have increased to 15, from 11. A new Parliamentary seat was named ‘Kaziranga’ while one Assembly seat was named ‘Manas’.
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.Earlier, 10 political parties from Assam filed a writ petition challenging the delimitation exercise in the Supreme Court. The Election Commission of India held public hearings on the draft delimitation proposal for Assam from July 19 to 21.A regional party, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking stay on the delimitation process. All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) had also filed a case in the SC against the draft delimitation proposal.
In June, EC published a draft delimitation proposal.
The last delimitation exercise in Assam was carried out in 1976.
Under the provisions of Delimitation Act, 1972, the last delimitation of constituencies in the State of Assam was done on the basis of census figures, 1971, by the then Delimitation Commission in 1976.
