GUWAHATI, July 13 (PTI): The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a three-day public hearing from July 19 on the suggestions/complaints related to the draft proposal on the delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies of Assam, an official release said here on Thursday.
The ECI had issued a notification on June 20 this year, inviting suggestions and objections to the draft proposal on the delimitation of assembly constituencies by June 11 and till the stipulated date about 500 suggestions/objections were received.
These suggestions/objections are under the consideration of the Commission and it has been also decided to hold public sittings in the state to hear the suggestions/objections as received from people and organisations on the draft proposal.
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The public hearing will be held at the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra from 1500 hrs on the first day and will cover the districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao.
On July 20, the hearing will begin at 9:30 hours and representatives from the districts of Dhubri, Goalpara, South Salmara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Karimganj, Hailakandi and Cachar will be heard till 1200 hours, followed by Kamrup, Kamrup(Metro), Nagaon, Sonitpur, Morigaon and Darrang till 1400 hours.
The Commission will also interact with representatives of national and state-recognised political parties (in alphabetical order) from 1530 hours on the same day.
On the final day, the hearing will be from 0930 to 1230 hours with representatives from the district of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Dhmaji, Lakhimpur, Sibsagar, Jorhat, Charaideo, Golaghat and Majuli, the release added.
The draft delimitation proposal had retained the number of assembly seats at 126 and the Lok Sabha constituencies at 14 in Assam.
The state also has seven Rajya Sabha seats.
According to the draft, the assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Castes would be increased to nine from eight and for Scheduled Tribes to 19 from 16 while for the Lok Sabha constituencies, two have been proposed under the ST category and one for the SC community.
The commission had also proposed to alter the geographical boundaries of most of the assembly and the Lok Sabha constituencies.
The draft delimitation proposal has come in for criticism from a section of the ruling BJP, its alliance partners and the opposition parties.
