Guwahati: The three-person Election Commission of India (ECI) team met with about 60 civil organisations in the past two days to solicit their opinions on the process of drawing up boundaries for Assam’s legislative and parliamentary districts.
This was said by Rajiv Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, during a press conference he gave on the delimitation exercise on Tuesday in Guwahati. Election commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel were also present in the news briefing.
Rajiv Kumar said, “We met around 60 civil organizations who gave their recommendations on the delimitation exercise. We held discussions with nine recognized and State political parties and other organizations in the last two days. The political parties that met us were Trinamool Congress, BJP, CPI, CPI (M), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Nationalist Congress Party, AIUDF, Bodoland People’s Front, UPPL, Assam Jatiya Parishad, Lok Shakti Party and Raijor Dal. Representatives of all parties submitted their representations.”
The civil society organisations that presented their suggestions to the commission were Bodoland organizations, students’ unions and communities such as Gorkhas, Ahoms & Garo, etc, according to Rajiv Kumar.
Rajiv Kumar further said, “We also met district magistrates and secretaries. We asked Deputy Commissioners to channel the aspirations of all those who were not able to meet the ECI.”
Rajiv Kumar added that after the process of redrawing the borders of the State’s constituencies was complete, the 126 assembly seats and 14 parliamentary seats in Assam will remain the same.
“126 assembly seats and 14 parliamentary seats will remain the same. We have given time by extending the date to April 15 and during that time anybody can give their suggestion to the ECI. We will then publish a draft and will give one-month time for taking suggestions on it. We will come back to Assam again to provide a personal hearing of the issues listed in the draft,” Rajiv Kumar said.
The Chief Election Commissioner noted that they received ideas from stakeholders and it benefited them a lot. These suggestions were competing and conflicting claims, having people on both sides of the claim.