The Supreme Court has issued a notice on a petition asking the Election Commission of India to conduct delimitation exercises in four North Eastern states (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland) in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
The petition filed through Advocate Gaichangpou Gangmei has stated that in the past 51 years, the delimitation exercise has not been held in the four north eastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland despite conducting peaceful elections.
The plea further requested that a Delimitation Commission be formed in accordance with the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002, and in particular Section 8A of the Representation of Peoples (Amendment) Act, 1956.
A bench comprising Justice KM Joseph and Justice Hrishikesh Roy heard the petition on Monday, July 25, filed by ‘Delimitation Demand Committee for the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland in North East India’
It was contended that these states were selectively denied delimitation while delimitation activities were carried out in the rest of India, so violating fundamental rights granted to Indian citizens under Article 14 of the Constitution.
According to the petitioner, the rejection of constituency delimitation in these four states is unjust, unreasonable, and unlawful.
The petitioner claimed that it has been two decades since the Delimitation Act, 2002 was revised and that no delimitation exercises have been done in the four northern states due to law and order issues. However, several parliamentary and state assembly elections have been held smoothly in these states since 2002, with no law and order issues cropping up.