Assam opposition leaders move Supreme Court challenging delimitation method proposed by ECI, Section 8A of Representation of People Act

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court by leaders of various opposition parties in Assam challenging the methodology adopted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to undertake the process of delimitation in the State..The petition also challenged Section 8A of the Representation of People Act, 1950, based on which the ECI claims to be exercising its power in conducting the delimitation process. .The petitioners in this case are Lurinjyoti Gogoi (Assam Jatiya Parishad), Debabrata Saikia (INC), Rokibul Hussain (INC), Akhil Gogoi (Raijor Dal), Manoranjan Talukdar (CPI(M)), Ghanakanta Chutia (Trinamool Congress), Munin Mahanta (CPI), Diganta Konwar (Anchalik Gana Morcha), Mahendra Bhuyan (Nationalist Congress Party), and Swarna Hazarika (Rashtriya Janata Dal)..The petitioners have challenged recent proposals of the ECI readjusting the extent of 126 Assembly and 14 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Assam by a draft order issued on June 20.They claimed that the methodology adopted by the ECI for this exercise took different average assembly sizes for different districts. It is their argument that population density or populous-ness have no role to play in the process of delimitation.The petition further stated that even though the Constitution of India envisages an exercise whereby constituencies are to be readjusted so as to ensure that all constituencies are comprised of an almost equal population, the ECI, by relying on 2001 census figures, has created three categories of districts and has taken different yardstick for the three categories. This results in possible deviation of up to 33% between the population of the largest and the smallest constituency, the petitioners contended..As for the challenge to Section 8A of the Representation of People Act, the petitioners contended that the provision is arbitrary, opaque and discriminatory to the State of Assam.The petition pointed out that delimitation for the rest of the country has been conducted by a high-powered body headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge and that a similar commission was formed for Jammu & Kashmir as well.“However, the provision of Section 8A discriminates against Assam and three North-Eastern States, for which the Election Commission has been prescribed as the authority to conduct delimitation,” the plea stated..The petition has also highlighted certain public statements of the Chief Minister of Assam that the present exercise will be beneficial to one party i.e., the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) while being damaging to other opposition parties.Such statements do not inspire any confidence in the exercise, but also give rise to apprehensions that the ECI exercise has not been independent and has been heavily dictated by the State government, the petitioners submitted.The top court is also seized of two public interest litigation (PIL) petitions regarding the delimitation of 4 northeastern States including Assam. These were filed prior to the ECI initiating the process in Assam.