A day before the Election Commission ban on any new administrative unit in Assam from January 1 until completion of the delimitation exercise, the state Cabinet Saturday approved the merger of four districts with the districts they had been carved out of.
On December 27, the EC announced the process of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam, saying it would be based on Census data from 2001. Assam currently has 14 Lok Sabha, 126 Assembly constituencies.
The EC also issued a directive banning the creation of new administrative units in the state with effect from January 1 until completion of the delimitation exercise in the state.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, where the state Cabinet met Saturday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Cabinet had approved some proposals that had been in the works for some time.
He said Tamulpur district – it was formed on January 23 this year – would be re-merged with Baksa district. Hojai district and Biswanath district, which were created in 2015, would go back to Nagaon and Sonitpur respectively. Bajali district, which was created on January 12, 2021, would be re-merged with Barpeta.
The mergers will bring down the count of districts in Assam from 35 to 31.
Declining to specify the reasons behind the move, Sarma said: “This decision has been taken because of administrative exigency and in the interest of Assam and our society.”
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Reacting to the development, Debabrata Saikia, Leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly, told The Sunday Express that the decision was political and meant to “balance” the Hindu and Muslim populations in the districts. Two of the districts – Nagaon and Barpeta – have Muslim majority.
“It is very much a political decision to polarise voters so they can carve out some seats with Hindu majority. The decision was taken a day before the EC’s ban, so one can easily deduct the reason behind this,” he said.
Deepening faultlines
The merger of 4 districts will deepen the political faultlines in Assam where the Opposition is already questioning the decision to conduct delimitation of constituencies on the basis of Census data from 2001, and not 2011.
He said Bajali district was created after the anti-CAA agitation in Assam and Tamulpur was formed to “win Bodo votes”. He said the reason to create new districts should have been to “serve the people and give good governance and not manipulate the constituencies”.
Gaurav Gogoi, Congress Lok Sabha MP from Assam, said the decision was “nothing but an insult”.
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“Ever since the BJP has come to power, Assam is being changed by the whims and fancies of Nagpur, and the aspirations of the local Assamese people have been ignored,” he said.
In New Delhi, Chief Minister Sarma clarified that the police districts and judicial districts, wherever they had been set up, would continue as it is and no employee would face difficulty.
He said a notification had already been issued. Asked why the decision was taken in a hurry, he said the Cabinet had to club together several proposals “as we know we are in a phase of uncertainty from tomorrow”.
The re-merger, he said, would be a “transition phase” and the government would “revive” the four districts as soon as possible.
