Supreme Court Grants 3 Months Time To Union To Furnish Steps Taken For Delimitation In Northeastern States

The Supreme Court today (March 17) granted 3 months' time to the Union of India to furnish the steps taken to carry out the delimitation exercise in the North Eastern states, particularly Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, after a Presidential order of 2020 rescinded the deferment of their delimitation.

The bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justices Sanjay Kumar and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition seeking delimitation in four north-eastern states of India, namely, Manipur, Assam, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh.

Previously, the Court had asked the Election Commission about the steps taken to carry out the delimitation exercise in the Northeastern states. 

Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 provides for delimitation of parliamentary and assembly Constituencies in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur or Nagaland.

It states that if the President is satisfied that the conditions prevailing in the aforementioned States are conducive for the conduct of the delimitation exercise, the President may rescind the deferment order issued under the provisions of Section 10A of the Delimitation Act, 2002 in relation to that State, and provide for the conduct of delimitation exercise in the State by the Election Commission. After such deferment order, the ECI can carry out delimitation in the State .

Notably, S.10A of the 2002 Act allows the President to order a deferment of the delimitation exercise if s/he " is satisfied that a situation has arisen whereby the unity and integrity of India is threatened or there is a serious threat to the peace and public order"

On the last hearing, the counsel for the petitioners had informed the court that the President in 2020 by an order rescinded the deferment of delimitation in the 4 states. That means, as per the 2020 Presidential order, the exercise of delimitation can be carried out in the said states.

Background

The petition refers to the President's order dated February 28, 2020, that allowed for conducting delimitation exercises in the 4 NE states. It further contends that although the Government of India by a notification issued on March 6, 2020, had constituted a Delimitation Commission for the purpose of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland along with appointing retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai as the Chairperson, but exercise was only restricted to Jammu and Kashmir.

Relying on the order, the petition argues that the petitioner(s) had submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India for the implementation of the Delimitation Act, 2002 in these four states in 2021 and 2022 but has not received any response. It has been stated in the plea that selectively denying delimitation while the same exercise was being conducted in the rest of India violated the fundamental right under Article 14 of the Constitution.

The petition further states that–

"It has been already two decades since the Delimitation Act, 2002 was amended and no delimitation exercises have been conducted in the four North-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland nor under Section 8A of the Representation of Peoples Act in the name of law-and-order problems. However, since 2002 it is to be noted that various parliamentary and state assembly elections have been conducted successfully in these four North Eastern states without any issue of law-and-order problems. In all fairness these four North- eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland deserved equal treatment per-se with rest of India and delimitation exercise ought be conducted at the earliest either by constituting a commission under the Delimitation Act, 2002 or through the Election Commission under Section 8A of Representation of Peoples Act as there are no justifiable reason that exist for not conducting delimitation."

The petition has been drafted by Advocate Gaichangpou Gangmei.

Case Title: Delimitation Demand Committee for the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur & Nagaland in North East India v Union of India| Diary No 12880 of 2022