Guwahati, July 11: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday informed that if delimitation exercise is carried out on the basis of 2011 census and not 2001, at least 16 to 20 seats of Northern and Upper Assam will go to Lower Assam and that to in places where Assamese people are minorities.

All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has filed a case in the Supreme Court against the draft delimitation proposal of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in Assam. Regional party Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has also filed a writ petition in the Apex Court seeking stay on the constituency delimitation process.

Speaking to media persons, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “I have lost my constituency as per the draft proposal. I have been representing Jalukbari constituency for the last 25 years. It is really sad; a lot of people think that they cannot win in a new constituency and they are making an unnecessary issue out of it.”

“If this delimitation does not take place, the Assamese race will become weak. Those seats under us and with every election Assamese people are losing at least five seats and at this rate it will not take much time to come down to 65 seats,” Sarma added.

He further said, “Even after the Assam agitation in 1985 when election was held, despite all the Assamese people voting for Asom Gana Parishad, it can wrest only 58 seats. This means political rights have moved away from the hands of Assamese people.”

He said that in Barak valley and other places, Indian origin people have lost their political rights.

“In 2007, the delimitation proposal, which was mooted during the Congress regime, the Assamese race would have lost everything. Some organisations have said that delimitation should have been done on the basis of the 2011 census, however, reality is we have not been able to withstand when delimitation is being done on the basis of 2001 census. We have lost seats in Sibsagar, in Tinsukia and Golaghat due to the Election Commission’s generosity seats have remained. If the delimitation exercise is carried out on the basis of the 2011 census and not 2001, at least 16 to 20 seats of Northern and Upper Assam will go to Lower Assam and that too in places where Assamese people are minority,” he added.

The last delimitation exercise in Assam was carried out in 1976. All Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the State are to be delimited on the basis of the 2001 Census as provided in Article 170 and Article 82 of the Constitution. The census figures of 2001, as published by the Census Commissioner, have thus alone been considered for this purpose.

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