EC Releases Assam Delimitation Proposals; No Change In Number Of LS, Assembly Seats

The Election Commission has proposed to retain the number of assembly seats in Assam at 126 and the Lok Sabha constituencies at 14 as it released the draft delimitation papers for the northeastern state.

According to an official statement, the EC has proposed that the assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Castes be increased from eight to nine and Scheduled Tribe seats from 16 to 19.

The EC draft of delimitation proposes to reserve 19 assembly and two parliamentary seats for STs, and nine assembly and one parliamentary seats for SCs.

The poll body proposed that the number of assembly seats in the autonomous districts of West Karbi Anglong be increased by one and in Bodoland autonomous council areas by three (from 16 to 19).

The EC has retained Diphu and Kokrajhar parliamentary seats reserved for ST and continued the Lakhimpur Parliamentary seat as unreserved.

According to the proposals, there will be one unreserved assembly seat in Dhemaji district. Two Parliamentary seats have been proposed for the Barak Valley districts. A parliamentary seat has been named as Kaziranga.

The Election Commission has sought suggestions and objections till July 11 and it will visit the state next month. The Commission visited Assam from March 26-March 28 this year and held interactions with political parties, public representatives, civil society members, social organisations, members of public and officers in the state including chief electoral officer, deputy commissioners of all districts and district election officers regarding delimitation exercise in the State. In total, representations from 11 political parties and 71 other organisations were received and considered.