GUWAHATI: The Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has moved the Supreme Court against the delimitation process in Assam.
The AIUDF has filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the delimitation exercise being conducted in the Northeast state of Assam.
Notably, the delimitation exercise in Assam is being conducted by the election commission of India (ECI).
The plea against the delimitation exercise in Assam was filed in the Supreme Court AIUDF MLA Suzam Uddin Laskar, who is the vice-president of the party’s central committee.
The plea against the delimitation exercise in Assam was filed in the Supreme Court by AIUDF MLA Suzam Uddin Laskar is on behalf of the party.
It may be mentioned here that besides the AIUDF, several other opposition parties in Assam have also raised objection to the delimitation process in the state.
Earlier, speaking on the ECI’s role in the delimitation process Assam Congress MP and deputy leader of the party in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said that the poll panel has “become a tool of the ruling BJP’s power-grabbing machinery”.
“ECI has become just another tool in the BJP’s power grabbing machinery,” said Assam Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi.
Gogoi claimed that the ECI is conducting the delimitation exercise in Assam “without consulting the opposition parties or the people” of the state.
He said that the ECI refrained from using the 2011 census data and instead is relying on a 20-year-old census from 2001 for the delimitation exercise in Assam.
“Now that the ECI has published a draft, we have come to Delhi to ask the poll panel few questions,” said Gogoi.
He added: “We want to ask the ECI as to how and on the basis of what guidelines have they undergone and undertaken this delimitation process.”
It may be mentioned here that as many as eleven (11) opposition parties from Assam, including the Congress, submitted a memorandum to the ECI against the delimitation exercise being carried out in the state.
Besides the Congress, the other parties from Assam to have raised objection to the delimitation exercise are: Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), Jatiya Dal, state units of the TMC, NCP, CPI, CPI-M, CPI-ML, RJD and JD-U.
As per the recently published draft delimitation proposal, while the number of assembly and Lok Sabha seats in Assam will remain unchanged at 126 and 14 respectively, changes will be initiated in the geographical boundaries of most constituencies – both assembly and Lok Sabha.