New Delhi, August 9 (MExN): The Supreme Court of India on July 25 has issued notice seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct delimitation exercise delimitation of Parliamentary and State Assembly Constituencies in the four North Eastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur as per the Representation of People's Act, 1950, informed a press release.
The apex court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Delimitation Demand Committee for the North Eastern States (DDC-NE) of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur.
A press release from the committee on August 9 informed that the Supreme Court have also granted the Petitioners (DDCNE) the liberty to serve notices to the Standing Counsels of the four NE states.
As per the release, a Presidential order dated February 28, 2020 allowed for conducting delimitation exercise in the said 4 NE states and subsequently, the Government of India on March 6, 2020 constituted a Delimitation Commission with retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai as Chairperson for the purpose of delimitation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the four NE States.
Unfortunately, the exercise was restricted only to Jammu and Kashmir and relying on the said order, the DDC-NE had submitted memorandum to the Prime Minister of India for the implementation of the Delimitation Act, 2002 in these NE four states in 2021 and 2022 but has not received any response, it said.
In its plea, the DDC-NE stated that denying delimitation to the said four NE states while the same exercise was being conducted in the rest of India is in violation of the fundamental right under Article 14 of the Constitution, the release added.
Arguing that since the Delimitation Act, 2002 was amended and no delimitation exercises have been conducted in the four states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland nor under Section 8A of the Representation of Peoples Act, the DDC-NE further submitted that the four states “deserved equal treatment per-se with rest of India and delimitation exercise ought be conducted at the earliest.
This can be done either by constituting a commission under the Delimitation Act, 2002 or through the Election Commission under Section 8A of Representation of Peoples Act as there are no justifiable reasons that exist for not conducting delimitation, it added.
Having exhausted all available remedies as all our petitions and memorandums to the authorities concerned have fallen on deaf ears, the of PIL was filed in the Supreme Court, it added.
The DDC-NE also conducted press conference at the Press Club of India, New Delhi on August 9 to apprise on the PIL.
