MODIFIED ARRANGEMENT FOR CARRYING OUT THE DELIMITATION EXERCISE
The Delimitation
Commission has proposed that while carrying out the delimitation
exercise, it will from now onwards invite the Associate members
for the first meeting soon after the Part I and Part II of the
working papers is finalised. The paper will indicate the proposed
allocation of Assembly seats to various districts in the State
and also show the proposed distribution of seats for Scheduled
Castes among various districts. Henceforth, only after these discussions
would be Commission commence to work out the proposed territorial
extent of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies and the constituencies
which are proposed to be reserved for SCs and STs. This position
has been explained to the Associate Members from Delhi in a meeting
held today.
The proposals
will then again be discussed and thereafter a Working Paper will
be finalised as the Commission’s Draft Proposal for publication
to which the Associate Members are further entitled to give their
note of dissent. Thereafter, the Commission’s working paper would
be discussed at public hearings where the Associate Members along
with the Commission’s Members would be present. This modified
arrangement is likely to take care of the dissatisfaction that
is being felt by the Associate Members that they are not being
consulted or associated in the process of formulation of draft
delimitation proposals.
The Delimitation
Commission has been carrying out its activities which involve
delimiting all Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the
country except in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, on the basis
of the 1991 Census figures. The intention of the Commission has
been to finish this task preferably well in time before the 2004
general elections to the Lok Sabha so that the lay public and
the political order have sufficient time to react to the changes
in the constituency limits that the delimitation exercise would
bring about.
