Morung Express News
Dimapur | December 7
The report of the Delimitation Commission, headed by Kuldip Singh, is likely to get Presidential assent within a fortnight. The report has been forwarded by the Union Ministry of Law. The new constituencies will be notified after getting the assent. The constituencies have been delimited on the basis of the census figures of 2001, sources informed.
However reports have quoted Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh as saying there are doubts over the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission coming into force during the general elections in 2009. Singh had said though the commission report was almost ready, some States had raised objections. It was for the Centre to take a decision on the issue, he added.
Significantly, while the report has been placed before Parliament, uncertainty prevails over its implementation in view of the stay granted by the Guwahati High Court. The court has stayed the delimitation exercise in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh following a dispute over census figures. Meanwhile, The Delimitation Commission has moved the Supreme Court against the Guwahati High Court order, sources informed.
It may be mentioned that the crucial all-India report of the Delimitation Commission was placed before Parliament on November 23 last week.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has fixed December 10 for hearing a petition seeking directions to the Union Government to notify the Delimitation report which has already been approved by both Houses of Parliament. The petition, filed by an organisation, Delhi Study Group, was mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justices RV Raveendran and JM Panchal on the ground that Assembly elections were due in many states in the next few months and general elections for Lok Sabha would be held in 2009.
In Manipur, following the resolution of the December 5 All Political Parties meeting held in Imphal, sixteen leaders from all political parties in Manipur left Imphal today for New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and the Delimitation Commission of India officials and to pressurize them not to conduct delimitation work in Manipur based on the ‘ bogus’ 2001 census report.
The all Manipur political parties forum has in their December 5 meeting expressed strong opposition of any move of delimitation based on 2001 census. The Manipur cabinet and the State legislative assembly have also passed several resolutions to oppose delimitation based on ‘bogus’ 2001 head count on several occasions.
