Row in Assam over delimitation: Oppn flags NRC, Census, ‘devaluing’ of minority vote; BJP hails proposal

The current delimitation process is being carried out on the basis of the 2001 Census, which has been another bone of contention with the Opposition parties protesting the use of 22-year-old data for it.

The BJP has however hailed the EC’s move, saying its draft delimitation proposal “protects the interests and aspirations of Assam and its indigenous people”.

While the EC’s draft does not make any change in the total number of the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies — which remain 14 and 126 respectively — it has proposed an increase in the number of the ST- reserved Assembly seats from 16 to 19 and the SC-reserved seats from 8 to 9.

The number of seats in the Bodoland Territorial Region has also been increased from 16 to 19 while the tribal district of West Karbi Anglong, which had one Assembly seat, is envisaged to have two seats.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the draft protects the interests of “indigenous communities” for the future and that “a better delimitation than this is not possible till the number of seats are increased”.

Among the instances Sarma cited to support this was the carving out of two new unreserved constituencies of Ranganadi and Sisiborgaon in Dhemaji and Lakhimpur districts respectively which, he said, will enable the Ahom and Chutia communities in those regions “to get representatives for the first time”.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Pabitra Margherita pointed to the carving out of another constituency in Tinsukia district, which he said “assured political rights to the indigenous Moran Motok communities of Assam”. Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Tinsukia districts are all located in Upper Assam dubbed as the “Assamese heartland”.

Margherita also stated that the draft has “ensured political dominance of people of Indian and indigenous origins in 90 to 100 Assembly seats in Assam”.

The Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) – which has its primary voter base among Muslims of Bengali origin – has come out strongly against the draft, with Ajmal himself stating that the party will suffer “heavy losses” because of it.

“This planning has being done with BJP as the mastermind with the target of reducing [the impact of] Muslim votes to the extent possible… The way Himanta has done this along with Amit Shah is such that Assam can have only two parties, the BJP and the Congress, and that no other party can be in the middle,” he alleged.

AIUDF general secretary Aminul Islam detailed the party’s concerns by citing the instance of two constituencies — Barpeta and Goalpara West — which have usually elected minority candidates and have now been made SC- reserved seats in the draft proposal.

“Among the parliamentary seats, Barpeta has had (seen) minority candidates usually winning. Now three minority-dominated Assembly seats which were a part of it have been moved to Dhubri [another minority-dominated parliamentary constituency and Ajmal’s seat] and other Assembly seats added to it which will change the demography of the constituency. On the other hand, the Dhubri constituency will make no geographic sense – it will be spread across five districts and there will be around 300 km of distance between parts of it like South Salmara and Chenga [which used to be a part of Barpeta]… There are huge anomalies… It is very clear that it is politically motivated,” he charged.

The principal Opposition Congress has also criticised the manner in which the delimitation exercise has been conducted by the EC. Apart from raising objections related to the NRC and the 2001 Census issues, Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah said, “Some eminent citizens moved the Supreme Court, and the court has given 25th July 2023 as the date for final hearing. Therefore, while the matter is sub-judice, it is astonishing – and a direct affront to the SC – that the EC has come out with a draft delimitation document without waiting for the SC judgment.”

Borah, however, also made it clear that the Congress was not opposed to redrawing of constituencies. He claimed that as a result of it the Congress would rather “get a walkover” in five seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Abdul Khaleque, the Congress’s Barpeta MP, called it an “unscientific draft” which, he charged, “will create social disturbances”. “Development blocks and gram panchayats have been broken across Lower Assam in the redrawing… Assam’s development will also be impacted. An existing MLA whose constituency has now been made, say an SC seat, or whose seat will cease to exist in the 2026 Assembly elections won’t work on the constituency and will instead focus on another move,” he said.