The Assam Government has no information on when the process of delimitation of constituencies would be over in the state.
This was stated by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while speaking at the Assam Assembly on Monday.
Himanta Biswa Sarma said that any question that the opposition may have about the process can be placed before the Election Commission of India (ECI) when its full team visits the state next week.
"The state government cannot say when the process will be completed as we are not directly or indirectly involved. EC is a central agency. Our work is only to provide the data," CM Sarma said in reply to a question on the delimitation process by Congress MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed.
The process began on January 1, the chief minister said.
The delimitation exercise was not stalled in the state due to the updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he said.
"The then Congress government had written to the delimitation commission that the law and order situation was not conducive for carrying out the process then. When we were asked if it can be done now, we said the situation is improved," Sarma told the assembly.
Sarma asked the MLAs to continue working equally for all areas within their constituency without speculating which localities will be eliminated when the delimitation process is complete.
"The full bench of the EC is coming here, and they will hold discussions with political parties and other stakeholders. I request all to place before them any misgivings and get the matters clarified," he said.
Sarma said that another delimitation exercise may happen later if the base year for the process is changed for the entire country.
A team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) will visit Assam for inspecting the ground reality and expectations of stakeholders, the general public on the ongoing delimitation exercise in the state.
According to an official release on Saturday, Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel, have decided to visit Assam from March 26 to 28 to hold talks with various sections. Prior to the delimitation exercise of constituencies in the state, the full bench of the ECI will meet and hold discussions with various stakeholders, including political parties and civil society.
