Replying to MP Pradyut Bordoloi’s unstarred question in Lok Sabha, the minister stated that the request was on the grounds of the threat to the peaceful co-existence of the people and the maintenance of the territorial integrity and the public order
TFM Desk
Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said the delimitation exercise undertaken by the Delimitation Commission in the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in the year 2002 was deferred on the request of the state governments.
Replying to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha by Pradyut Bordoloi, an MP from Assam, the minister stated that the state governments’ request was on the grounds of the threat to the peaceful co-existence of the people and the maintenance of the territorial integrity and the public order.
Raising the controversial delimitation issue in the Lok Sabha, MP Pradyut Bordoloi sought the reasons for the deletion of these four North-Eastern states from the exercise of the ongoing delimitation process under the Chairperson of Justice (Retd) Ranjana Desai in March 2021.
He also asked whether the Government initiated any corrective measure to put the delimitation process of the four North-Eastern states back in the steam and if so, the details thereof and the time frame fixed in this regard.
The minister informed the House that based on a holistic revisit of the whole situation, a decision was taken not to proceed with the delimitation exercise in the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. The minister cited a number of court cases have been filed, questioning the very validity of the delimitation exercise on account of discrepancies in the Census figures of 2001 in respect of these States as the reason for the decision.
Accordingly, the mandate for the delimitation of constituencies in the said States was excluded from the purview of the Delimitation Commission vide Notification No. S.O. 1023(E) dated 3 March, 2021, added the minister.