The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the delimitation of Lok Sabha and assembly seats in Assam by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and directed the response of the Union government and the poll panel on a batch of pleas on the issue. However, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra agreed to examine the constitutional validity of Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 empowering the Election Commission to undertake the delimitation of constituencies.


The apex court asked the Centre and the Election Commission to submit replies to the petitions in three weeks and said the petitioners can file their rejoinders in two weeks after that, news agency PTI reported.


Ten leaders representing nine opposition parties in Assam such as the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI(M), CPI, TMC, NCP, RJD, and Anchalik Gana Morcha- recently filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging the ongoing delimitation process being carried out by the ECI.


Two other pleas are also pending before the court on this matter, as per PTI's report. The petitioners have specifically challenged the methodology adopted by the poll panel and its proposals notified on June 20, 2023, it added. 


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Previously, the Election Commission held a three-day-long public hearing on Assam's draft delimitation proposal wherein it received more than 1,200 representations from various groups, including those who shared divergent views on matters such as renaming assembly constituencies.


Representations came from a wide array of groups, each presenting their unique views on multiple issues related to the delimitation process to redraw assembly and parliamentary constituencies, PTI reported an official as informing.


More than 1,200 representations including political parties, ethnic organisations, social and cultural groups, and individual citizens were made before the poll panel, as per the report.


In its delimitation draft issued on June 20, the ECI proposed to retain the number of assembly seats in Assam at 126 and the Lok Sabha constituencies at 14. It also proposed that the assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Castes be increased from eight to nine and for Scheduled Tribes from 16 to 19. 


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