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Front Page >> Opinions  > Story

Step 2: In the <body>, place the 
   
Clip the Plain, Paste The Hill
By Oinam Anand
Representative Parliamentary Democracy calls for a system of choosing representatives of the people. It is most important that the elections are free, fair and proportionally represented. These are therefore to be conducted under the supervision and direction of an independent authority The Election Commission. For the equal and proportional representation of the electorates, the delimitation of constituencies have to be carried out from time to time based on the data of population census.

In the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution, there is also a clause which lay down that the numbers of seats in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies which are based on population shall remain frozen as in the 1971 Census till 2001 A.D. Under this direction the last delimitation of constituencies were affected in 1976.

Now, on the basis of the census report of 2001 A.D. the delimitation of all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies and 4000 plus Assembly Constituencies in the country will be done and completed by October 2004. As the present strength of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies will continue to exist till 2026, the delimitation will only mean the realignment of the seats on the basis of the data of population of 2001 census. But for the Reserved Constituencies, there may be an increase or decrease of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. Here lies the problem in the delimitation process in Manipur. The provisional Census report of 2001 A.D. is published. According to the report, the population of Manipur increased to about 5 lakhs from the census report of 1991 A.D. Now the population of the State as per census 2001 stands at 23 plus lakhs.

Disparities are seen in the district wise increase of population. The percentage of increase is much higher in the hill districts in comparison to that of the valley. If the delimitation of the Assembly seats are done on the basis of 2001 census, there will be re-adjustment of the seats between the hill and the plain or in other words between the Reserved and the Unreserved Constituencies.

According to the Commissions proposal, there will be a plus of three seats for Senapati District, one each for Ukhrul District and Chandel District while there will be a minus of two seats from the Imphal West, and one each from the Imphal East, Thoubal and Bi-shnupur. The strength of the existing State Assembly will not be affected due to this delimitation but this will increase the number of reserved seats from 32 percent to 40 percent.

Many eyebrows of the political parties are raised on this proposed permutation of the Assembly Seats. The BJP and Lok Shakti have already denounced the proposal of the Commission on the ground that it is based on unrealistic and unacceptable census reports of 2001. The Chief Minister along with some of his cabinet colleagues and the opposition leader R.K. Dorendra Singh is scheduled to meet the delimitation commission Chairman Kuldip Singh in this matter on the 24th June. As the delimitation on population is already in the Provision of the Constitution, they cannot question on it and therefore the purpose of this delegation is to urge the Commission for reviewing the Census Report of Manipur 2001. Whether the meeting will bear fruit or not is too early to predict and to reach to the conclusion, but the tip of the iceberg of another tussle between the hill and the plain has begun to surface.

United Naga Council (UNC) hails the proposal for the re-alignment of Assembly seats in Manipur and considers it as a right step in the direction of justice and equal representation of the electorates. The body seems well prepared to thwart any attempt to deny what they called the rights of the tribal people.

On the other hand, there are also the prolonged demands of the people of the seven Assembly Constituencies in the Thoubal District to include them in the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency. Taking this opportunity of delimitation, this is high time for the authorities concerned to highlight and to convince the Commission about these demands, so that the long aspirations of the people of these Constituencies are fulfilled without delay.

But for the present, it is all in the hands of the Commission. The decision of the Commission cannot be questioned or challenged. So, in my humble opinion it is better to wait with our mouths closed without making any hullabaloo in the media. If the proposed delimitation will serve the welfare of the hill people, why should we, the plain people put a wedge in it? What will the common people of the plain lose if we accede the five seats to the hill, which is also a part of Manipur? Will this sacrifice on the part of the plain be a first step of emotional integration?

E-mail address: anand_oinam@yahoo.co.in

(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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