Diphu : The Election Commission of India in its draft proposal released yesterday has suggested that the number of assembly seats in Assam will not increase from the present number of 126 and the Lok Sabha constituencies will remain 14; in its draft delimitation suggestion for the northeastern state.

The delimitation draft has proposed that the assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Castes may be increased from eight to nine and for the Scheduled Tribes, seats may increase from 16 to 19. The commission has proposed to reserve 19 assembly and two parliamentary seats for STs, and nine assemblies and one parliamentary seat for SCs.

The commission has proposed that the number of assembly seats in the autonomous West Karbi Anglong district be increased by one and in Bodoland autonomous area from 16 to 19. As a whole the proposed change is modestly new.

The EC has retained Diphu and Kokrajhar parliamentary seats as reserved for ST and continued the Lakhimpur and Dhemaji Parliamentary seat as unreserved. Two parliamentary seats have been proposed for the Barak Valley districts. A parliamentary seat has been named as Kaziranga.   

The development came after the visit of the Commission in Assam from March 26-March 28 2023. The Election commission officials interacted with representatives of political parties, civil organizations, and social organizations, elected representatives, government officers including state chief electoral officer, deputy commissioners and district election officers concerning delimitation exercise in Assam.

The proposed draft includes 126 seats for the Legislative Assembly and 14 seats for the Lok Sabha, with 19 Assembly seats and 2 Parliamentary seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 9 Assembly seats and 1 Parliamentary seat reserved for Scheduled Castes.

The chief election commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, along with election commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel, will visit Assam again in July 2023 for a public hearing on the draft proposal. The Commission has invited suggestions and objections from the public, which can be submitted until July 11, 2023.

This delimitation exercise in Assam marks the first such process since 1976, and it is aimed at ensuring fair and representative elections in the state, an official statement mentioned. Taking all these factors into account, the EC has categorized all 31 districts in three broad categories A, B and C giving a margin of (+/-) 10 percent of average population per assembly constituency, while proposing allocation of the constituencies to the districts.

The average population density of the state is 338 persons per square kilometer. A population density range of 304 (subtracting 10 per cent from the average population density) to 372 (adding 10 per cent to the average population density) has been established and on this basis, the above three categories have been made. ‘A’ category districts are those having population density less than 304 persons per sq. km., while ‘B’ category are those with population density having between 304 to 372 persons per sq. km.