Delimitation effect: 39 MLAs and five Lok Sabha MPs will lose their seats in Assam

On June 20, the Election Commission of India (ECI) published a draft proposal for the delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in Assam. Though the number of assembly constituencies and Lok Sabha constituencies has remained unaltered at 126 and 14 respectively, the boundaries of all the constituencies have been demarcated differently keeping in mind the changed demography. Consequently, 30 existing assembly constituencies will cease to exist and 26 new constituencies have been created.

Similarly, four current Lok Sabha constituencies will no-longer exist in their current shape and one new will come up.  The reservation status of nine constituencies have also been altered. As a result of this draft proposal for delimitation, 39 MLAs and five Lok Sabha MPs will now lose the constituencies they used to represent earlier. While the draft is not final and the ECI has invited suggestions and objections until July 11, the draft proposal of delimitation has caused a lot of tension among sitting MLAs whose constituency names are not in the draft.

The BJP legislators who have found their constituencies missing include Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary (Panery), Forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary (Dharmapur), and Transport Minister Parimal Suklabaidya (Dholai), Siddhartha Bhattacharya (Guwahati East), Ramendra Narayan Kalita (West Guwahati), Binod Hazarika (Chabua), Sushanta Borgohain (Thowra), Krishnendu Paul (Patharkandi), Rupsing Teron (Baithalangso), and Dosing Rohtang (Howraghat). From BJP’s ally AGP, the constituencies of Pradip Hazarika (Amguri) and Bhabendra Nath Bharali (Dergaon) no longer exist.

From Congress, Jakir Hussain Sikdar (Sarukhetri), Sherman Ali Ahmed (Baghbar), Rekibuddin Ahmed (Chaygaon), Bharat Narah (Naoboicha), and Basanta Das (Mangaldoi) have all lost their constituencies in the draft. From other parties, AIUDF’s Rafikul Islam (Jania), Aminul Islam (Dhing) and Suzam Uddin Laskar (Katlicherra), UPPL’s UG Brahma (Chapaguri) and  and  of the AIUDF, as well as prominent Bodo leaders U G Brahma and Bhupen Baro (Baksa) have been impacted by the proposed delimitation.

Among parliamentarians, those who will see the geography and name of their constituencies change include BJP’s Dilip Saikia (Mangaldoi) Horen Sing Bey (Autonomous District) and Pallab Lochan Das (Tezpur) and Congress’s Gourav Gogoi (Kaliabor).

Apart from these legislators, six MLAs and one Lok Sabha MP will also have to find out new seats to contest polls because their constituencies have been declared reserved for SC and ST. For instance, BJP MLA Suman Haripriya cannot contest from Hajo, as it’s now a SC constituency. Her party colleague Ranjit Dutta (Behali) will face the same fate. Similarly, Congress MLA Abdur Rahim Ahmed will have to re-locate from Barpeta which is now reserved for SC.

Interestingly, Ahmed’s fellow partyman Bharat Narah, who belongs to ST, cannot contest from his current seat Naoboicha as it has been reserved for Scheduled Caste. Nandita Das, again from Congress, will have to give up her current seat Boko which has been converted from a SC seat to a ST one. Goalpara West, the constituency Another Congressman Abdur Rashid Mandal,has also been reserved for ST. Among Lok Sabha MPs, BJP’s Rajdeep Roy will have to find a new seat as his constituency Silchar is now reserved for SC.

In contrast, Mangaldoi and Dergaon, which were earlier reserved for SC, have now been thrown open as general category seat, as per the proposed draft. Same way, Karimranganj Lok Sabha seat, earlier reserved for SC and represented by BJP MP Kripanath Mallah, is now in general category. 

The vanishing constituencies and their MLAs

MLAs hit by reserved seats