STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: After the completion of the three-day public hearing of the draft delimitation proposal for Assam, the Election Commissioner of India (ECI) issued a press note on July 21. The opposition parties alleged that their suggestions were not reflected in the press note issued by the ECI. The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President, Bhupen Kumar Borah, wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Companion Election Commissioners on Sunday to show their objection in this regard.
The letter said, "……a delegation of APCC attended the public hearing on July 20 in respect of the public hearing on the draft proposal published on June 20 in respect of the delimitation of Constituencies in the state of Assam. The ECI published a Press Note on July 21 containing some salient features of the representations made during public hearings. Various issues raised by our delegation, including very vital and important issues, are missing in the aforesaid Press Note. We raised the point and sought clarification on whether the ECI, being a Constitutional body, accepted the census data of 2001 as it contained the actual Indian population. If yes, then it is an approval of the Constitutional Body, and if not, then how is the Election Commission of India proceeding with the delimitation on the basis of the 2001 census? Unfortunately, this vital and important point is missing in the aforesaid Press Note. Therefore, Congress demands to include this vital and important point in the findings of ECI."
Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) also objected to the press note issued by the ECI. The President of AJP, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, wrote a letter to CEC saying that their suggestions were not reflected in the press note.
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