Staff reporter
ITANAGAR, 20 Jan: Reiterating its demand for implementation of the delimitation process in the state as per the Delimitation Act, 2002, the Arunachal Pradesh Delimitation Demand Committee (APDDC) announced to organise a peaceful rally from Nyokum Lapang to the tennis court here on 21 January.
APDDC chairman Regum Nabam informed this in a press conference at the Arunachal Press Club on Friday.
“Delimitation is our democratic right for equal and proportionate representation for both assembly and parliamentary constituencies. The implementation of the Act will help in re-adjustment of assembly constituencies in the state. The entire country is enjoying the delimitation rights, except for four states, including Arunachal Pradesh.
The state is being deprived by its own government since the time of Congress and now BJP,” he said.
He informed that, despite the APDDC having submitted several memorandums to central and state government representatives regarding its demand, the issue has not been addressed by any of the authorities for over two years.
“Following no response from any of the authorities, the Delimitation Commission of the Northeast had filed a PIL with the Supreme Court, requesting to keep directing the delimitation commission, central and state governments to implement delimitation in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Assam.
“Accordingly, the court had directed the government of India and the election commission to file affidavit in opposition,” he added.
Claiming that there is no equal and proportionate representation in the 60-seat assembly of the state, Nabam appealed to every political party, stakeholders, CBOs, NGOs, academicians, youths and likeminded people to join the rally and debate on the issue.
APDDC’s Michi Tagia said, “The Delimitation Act, 2002 was constituted to delimit all assembly constituencies of states on the basis of the 2001 census, but the government of India in a notification issued on 06/03/2020 stated that states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland from the sub-paragraph (iii) were omitted, thereby excluding these Northeast states from the purview of delimitation exercise.”
He further informed that all associate members of the APDDC had written a letter to the then president of the delimitation commission, Justice Kuldip Singh, appealing to him not to proceed with the delimitation process for a period of time.
“Unfortunately, Singh ignored the letter and the delimitation process was completed in all aspects for 3,726 assembly constituencies and 513 Lok Sabha constituencies in the country, except for states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland,” he added.
“In the meantime, the government of Arunachal Pradesh passed a resolution in the legislative assembly, requesting the government of India and the Delimitation Commission not to proceed with the delimitation process, stating that it might cause law and order problems and status insecurity.
“On the basis of Section 10 (A) of the Delimitation Act, the then president Pratibha Patil deferred the Delimitation Act in Arunachal Pradesh, stating that the delimitation proceeding in the state is immediately suspended till further order,” Tagia said.
“In 2019-20, the suspension order was revoked by the president, giving the state a privilege to move on with the proceedings of the Delimitation Act, 2002. The resumption of delimitation exercise had given the people of Arunachal a hope of fulfilling their long-felt aspiration for proportionate democratic representation of people in the state legislative assembly, which was deprived to them since 1978.
“Therefore, we demand that the delimitation commission carry out its constitutional exercise as per the Delimitation Act, 2002,” said Tagia.
