New Delhi/Guwahati: The opposition party leaders in Assam have challenged the delimitation exercise carried by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
As many as ten leaders associated with different opposition parties including the Congress, CPI, Trinamool Congress and others have pleaded in front of the Supreme Court calling the ECI delimitation exercise vague, arbitrary and discriminatory.
The petitioners also challenged Section 8A of the Representation of People Act, 1950, based on which the ECI claims to be exercising its power in conducting the delimitation process.
The Election Commission proposed readjusting the extent of 126 Assembly and 14 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Assam.
The opposition parties protested saying the proposed readjustment is done to benefit the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
To prove their point, the petition pointed out Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's statement, who has publicly said that the delimitation exercise will be beneficial to BJP while being damaging to other opposition parties.
“Such statements, while do not inspire any confidence in the exercise, also give rise to apprehensions that the ECI exercise has not been independent and has been heavily dictated by the State Government,” the plea filed through advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi said.
On Saturday July 15, 2023, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) had filed a separate petition in the Supreme Court of India against draft delimitation proposal for Assembly and Parliamentary seats in Assam.
In its petition, the AIUDF questioned the power of Election Commission to carry delimitation exercise.
"The Election Commission of India (ECI) carried out the exercise instead of a Delimitation Commission because of amendments in relevant Acts in 2008 by the UPA government", AIUDF General Secretary and MLA Aminul Islam, said while addressing a press conference.
He said that delimitation has been carried out since Independence only by the Delimitation Commission, and not by the ECI and the same should be continued.
"We have challenged those amendments which handed over the delimitation power to the ECI. Because of the amendments, ECI can now form guidelines on its own and carry out delimitation without any accountability to anyone," he said.
"The draft proposal has been prepared to directly benefit the BJP and RSS so that the saffron camp wins the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Assam," he added.
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