Centre exempts Manipur, 3 NE States
Jharkhand from Delimitation process
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 10: The Union Cabinet has today decided to exempt Manipur, Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Jharkhand from the proposed Delimitation exercise and to maintain the status quo of the Assembly Constituencies as well as the Parliamentary Constituencies till 2026.The Union Cabinet has also approved an Ordinance to this effect and the same would be forwarded to President Pratibha Patil for her approval. A source from Delhi said, "The Union Cabinet has approved to issue and Ordinance for exemption of four States namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur of the North East region and Jharkhand from the Delimitation process.

The Ordinance says that status quo of the Constituencies of these States will be maintained upto 2026."

The NE States where Delimitation has been exempted

Speaking to newsmen at the MPP office today, its president Dr L Chandramani informed that the Union Cabinet has decided to exempt Manipur and the three other NE States as well as Jharkhand from the purview of the Delimitation exercise.

The decision of the Union Cabinet comes a day ahead of the meeting of the Delimitation Commission of India scheduled to be held tomorrow.

The decision of the Union Cabinet was taken on the basis of the controversy surrounding the 2001 Census report.

Even as the Union Cabinet has decided to exempt Manipur from the Delimitation process, a team of the associate members of the Delimitation Commission of India has left Imphal today for the meeting scheduled tomorrow.

The team included Chief Minister O Ibobi, Power Minister Phungzathang Tonsing, Rural Development Minister Md Allauddin, State unit president of the Samajwadi Party Sapam Dhananjoy, State unit president of the RJD W Nipamacha, MPP MLA O joy, Salam Sarat of the CPI (M), State unit president of the BJP Dr H Borbabu and State Chief Electoral Officer RR Rashmi.

Significantly a State wide bandh was called today to protest any Delimitation exercise on the basis of the contentious 2001 Census report and another indefinite bandh has been announced in Bishnupur district.

On the other hand KSO and ANSAM have called a 12 hour State bandh tomorrow (Jan 11) to demand the implementation of the Delimitation process.

PTI adds from New Delhi : The Union Cabinet today deferred the delimitation exercise in four North Eastern States and Jharkhand by approving amendments to the Delimitation Act 2002.The amendment would take care of the concerns expressed by the Delimitation exercise in the four North Eastern States of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh due to the situation prevailing there, Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi said.

It was felt that due to the various situations prevailing in these States, the Cabinet decided to let it remain as it is for now, he told reporters after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

One of the objectives of the Delimitation Commission is to ensure that the number of seats is not decreased if not increased, he said adding the exercise has been completed in 25 States.

"There was some problems in shifting the rural seats from urban seats in these States, accordingly we agreed that this Ordinance will enable these States to contest the next polls as it is," Dasmunsi said.

As far as Jharkhand is concerned, the problem is that the exercise found that the number of reserved seats was going down, he said adding the objective was to ensure that the reserved seats are not decreased.

"To accommodate these States this Ordinance was approved today and it will be tabled in the coming Parliament session," he said.