Delimitation of Parliamentary and AC

You are here: Home » news section » opinions » Politics and Governance

E-Pao! Opinion - Whither delimitation of Parliamentary and A/C in Manipur

Whither delimitation of Parliamentary and A/C in Manipur

Haokholala Thangjom *

Articles 81, 82, 170, 330 and 332 of the Constitution have been amended under the Constitution (Eight fourth Amendment Act, 2001. (Notified on the 21st February 2002). Parliament also enacted the Delimitation Act, 2002. Notified on the 4th June 2006.)

The Delimitation Commission was set up and has started functioning with effect from the 4th July 2002 under the Chairmanship of Justice Kuldip Singh (former judge of the Supreme Court) of India.

The resultant effects of the Constitutional Amendment are given hereunder:

The total number of existing seats as allocated to various States in the Lok Sabha on the basis of 1971 census shall remain unaltered till the first census to be taken after 2026.
The total number of existing seats in the Legislative Assemblies of all States are fixed on the basis of 1971 census shall also remained unaltered till the first census to be taken after the year 2026.
The number of seats to be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled tribes in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assembly be re-worked out on the basis of 2001 census.
Each State shall be redelimited into territorial Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies on the basis of 2001 census and the extent of such constituencies as delimited now shall remain frozen till the first census to be taken after the year 2026.
The constituencies shall be so re-delimited that population on the basis of 2001 census of each parliamentary and Assembly constituency in a State shall, so far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.

In the midst of the progress made so far by the Delimitation Commission in respect of the State of Manipur, a writ petition (PIL) No. 16 of 2005 had been filed by ten political parties, namely, Manipur Pradesh Congress, BJP, Federal Party, MPP, DRPP, CPI, CPI (Marxist), NCP, RJD and Janata Dal in the Gauhati High Court.

In the order of the Court it is mentioned that even when on earlier occasions on public interest Litigation No 53/2003 was entertained by this court and by an order dated 24.2.2004 the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India were directed to hear and dispose of the representation of the State of Manipur and also to consider the representation of the aggrieved parties before finalisation of the census report in accordance with the provisions of the Census Act, 1948.

It was also directed that before issuance of final order, the Delimitation Commission of India will not issue the order under 'The Delimitation Act, 2002' delimiting the constituencies and re-adjusting seats of Parliament and constituencies of State Assembly till the final census report is published.

It also appears that the Registrar General of India and Census Commission vide letter dated the 16th May 2004 communicated that results of census, 2001 in respect of 3 (three) Sub-division, namely Mao Maram, Paomata and Purul in Senapti district, Manipur has been cancelled.

However, as submitted for and on behalf of the petitioners that in compliance to the order of the court dated the 24th February 2004 in Writ Petition No. 53/ 2003, the representation of the petitioners has not yet been decided by the Registrar General and the Census Commission of India.

Keeping in view the facts and circumstances, it is indicated that the Registrar General and the Census Commissioner as well as the Delimitation Commissioner of India shall not proceed with the delimitation exercise in respect of Manipur State for the purpose of Section 8 and 9 of the Delimitation Act, 2002.

However, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner shall be at liberty to rectify the alleged faulty and defective census figure of final census report of India, 2001 in the meantime. As such, in the meantime, status-quo with regard to the delimitation in the existing 60 (sixty) Assembly constituencies in the State of Manipur shall be maintained.

This interim relief is being granted to the parties, which shall be subject to the outcome of the Writ Petition. However, parties are at liberty to approach the court for modification, verification and clarification.

Any observation made in the present order shall not cause any prejudice to the rights and interest of the parties at the time of adjudication of the Writ Petition.

All the observations made by the Court vividly show that in brief, the ball is in the court of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner. It is also surprising that the Delimitation Commission is keeping stoic silence when no action is forthcoming from the Registrar General and census Commissioner till today.

Is it an intention to hijack the coming Assembly election in the State of Manipur during the month of February 2007.

This article was written before the 9th Assembly Election, 2007.

* Haokholala Thangjom, a ex-Cabinet Minister and former political advisor to CM, wrote this article for The Sangai Express. This article was webcasted in e-pao.net on 16th July 2007.

* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.