Assam: Delimitation unlikely before 2021 state polls

GUWAHATI: Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said that without amendment of Delimitation Act of 2002 to change the Census base year from 2001 to 2011, there is no possibility of delimitation of assembly constituencies in the state before the 2021 assembly elections.
“The Delimitation Act of 2002 says delimitation should be on the basis of the Census of 2001. The Act has to be amended and the base year changed to 2011. Till now, the process (of amendment) has not yet started. So to my knowledge, the delimitation will not happen before this coming assembly election,” Sarma said.
Few weeks back, the delimitation commission, which was set up to redraw the parliament and assembly constituencies of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, announced that its teams will visit the five areas after drawing up the broad framework.
The Delimitation Commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai was set up in March after the law ministry notified the delimitation commission for the four northeastern states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, which were left out of the last delimitation exercise carried out from 2002 to 2008.
In Assam, the then Congress government had objected to the delimitation before the completion of the process of updating the National Register of Citizens.
A couple of months back, the state government had asked deputy commissioners of all districts of the state to prepare the statistical data and map showing all latest administrative units and developmental units by August 9 for onward submission to the delimitation commission.
Sarma said, “The delimitation in Assam would be required when we implement the Clause 6 of Assam Accord. The current process started by the delimitation commission in Assam is for advancing the process so that when we start implementing Clause 6, the delimitation report is ready.”
On the other hand, Clause 6 can be implemented only after finalizing the definition of Assamese people. Sarma had earlier said that the present BJP-led state government is not in favour of adopting the definition at the fag end of its term and would rather have the newly elected assembly take up the issue after the election early next year.