Centre Removes ‘Limitations’ on Parliamentary and Assembly Seats in Assam

ITANAGAR: The Centre has removed the ‘limitations’ on parliamentary and legislative assembly seats for the BJP-ruled Assam, following an order issued by the Ministry of Law & Justice.

Under Article 82 of the Constitution, the parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census and the central government constitutes a Delimitation Commission which demarcates the boundaries of the parliamentary and legislative assembly constituencies.

The Delimitation Commission had completed the delimitation exercise and the 2008 Delimitation Order for all states except Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland.

The argument for the move was that “a situation had arisen where the unity and integrity of India was likely to be threatened and there was serious threat to the peace and public order”.

The latest order issued by the ministry states that “there is a significant improvement in the security situation in the state of Assam”.

It said that there has been a “reduction in insurgency incidents and improvement in law and order of these states making the situation conducive for carrying out the delimitation exercise”.

However, a notification issued on November 27 last year by the Ministry of Home Affairs banning the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) listed “about 70 incidents of violence, either individually or in alliance with other insurgent groups of Northeast region, during the period from 1 January 2015 to 31 July 2019”, and the “killing of 32 persons, including 25 civilians and seven security forces personnel” in that same period.

The MHA order had called the ULFA an “unlawful association”.

Additionally, despite protests against the then-Citizenship Amendment Bill (now Citizenship Amendment Act) that began back in 2016 when the amendment was first introduced, the anti-CAA protests took a violent turn towards the end of last year with at least five people dying due to security action.

While the situation has calmed in Assam, there continues to be a considerable Army presence in the state.

With the latest government order, Assam’s parliamentary and legislative assembly constituencies can be redrawn.

Assam is scheduled to go for assembly elections next year.