Election Commission's Assam Delimitation Plan: 10 Key Points

The poll body has proposed that the number of Parliamentary seats and Assembly seats in Assam be retained at 14 and 126, respectively. "Articles 170 and 82 (of the Constitution) laid down that the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of each State and the allocation of seats in the House of the people to the States shall not be altered until the relevant figures for the first census taken after year 2026 have been published," the commission said in a press note.

The draft proposes to increase the number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes from eight to nine, and those reserved for Scheduled Tribes from 16 to 19.

The number of Assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes has been increased for better representation for the people of Bodoland. One seat reserved for Scheduled Castes has been added in West Karbi Anglong district.

The draft has proposed to alter the boundaries and names of some Lok Sabha and Assembly seats. For example, Kaliabor Parliamentary constituency will be named Kaziranga, the draft proposal says. According to a source, this was done to give due prominence to the wildlife sanctuary.

The last delimitation exercise in Assam was carried out nearly five decades ago, in 1976. Election Commission sources said this ongoing exercise aims to correct the imbalance due to an sharp differences in the pattern of population growth.

The number of Parliamentary seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes remains unchanged at one and two, respectively, in the draft proposal. However, the poll body has now proposed that Silchar be reserved for Scheduled Castes instead of Karimganj.

Kokrajhar will continue to be reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The other seat reserved for them, the Autonomous District seat, will now be called Diphu, the draft proposes. Importantly, the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat, which was to be reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, as per a 2018 draft proposal, will continue to be unreserved.

Two of three Assembly seats in Dhemaji district would be reserved for Scheduled Tribes. "In upper Assam, Dhemaji and Jonai AC seats should be reserved for ST. Simultaneously, there was a demand that all seats in Dhemaji district should not be kept reserved," the Election Commission said.

The poll body has detailed its methodology behind preparing the draft proposal. The draft categorises Assam's 31 districts into three broad categories on the basis of population density to propose allocation of constituencies. Category A comprises districts with population density less than 304 persons per sq km; Category B 304-372 persons per sq km; and Category C more than 372 persons per sq km.

In March, the poll body visited Assam and met political parties, public representative and social organisations, among others. The commission said representations from 11 political parties and 71 other organisations were received and considered in preparing the draft delimitation proposal.