Assam Opposition parties protest against draft delimitation proposal

A delegation of leaders from 11 Opposition parties of Assam staged a protest in front of the Election Commission in Delhi against the draft delimitation document unveiled for the State.

A delegation of leaders from 11 Opposition parties of Assam staged a protest in front of the Election Commission here against the draft delimitation document unveiled for the State.

The parties included the Congress, Trinamul Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, CPI, CPI(M), Janata Dal (United), and regional parties like Assam Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal. The delegation was accompanied by Opposition MLAs from the state.

The parties claimed that they had sought time from the Election Commission well in advance but there had been no response and when they reached the commission on Friday, they were informed that no member of the commission was present.

“Thus, we sat on a protest in front of the Commission,” Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi, who was part of the delegation, told The Hindu.

Assam PCC chief Bhupen Kumar Borah tweeted: “After refusal by ECI to meet the 11-party delegation from Assam, the delegates started a sit-in protest in front of the ECI office. It’s a shame that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is using ECI as an extended arm of the BJP”.

According to an official release issued by the Election Commission (EC), the Chief Election Commissioner Mr Rajiv Jain was in Panama where he signed an MoU with the Electoral Tribunal of Panama on knowledge exchange between the two election management bodies.