11 parties urge Manipur Guv to defer delimitation process till 2026

A Raj Bhavan official said that during the discussions, party representatives submitted a memorandum and voiced their concerns about the possible delimitation exercise.

A spokesman of the delegation of the 11 political parties said that re-demarcation of electoral boundaries must be conducted on the basis of a correct Census and it should be deferred till 2026, when the delimitation process would be undertaken in the entire country with the new census figures.

The 11 parties’ meeting follows a recent directive from the Supreme Court, which has instructed the completion of the pending delimitation exercise in the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Assam within the next three months.

The memorandum of the 11 parties said: “Considering the prevailing ethnic conflict in Manipur (since May 2023), it is not possible to carry out delimitation. If any delimitation exercise is taken up in Manipur, there would be real disturbances of public order. As per the 2001 census data, abnormal growth of population was found in certain hill districts. There is every likelihood of the eruption of further conflict between the people in the hills and the valley regions.”

The parties whose leaders met the Governor on Monday, include, National People’s Party (NPP), Janata Dal (United), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Republican Party of India (Athawale (RPI-A), Shiv Sena (UBT), Manipur People's Party (MPP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Most political parties in Manipur opposed any possible delimitation exercises in the state based on the 2001 census report, and they demanded a thorough rectification of the census data before re-demarcation of electoral boundaries.

Senior BJP leader Kh Ibomcha said that his party would soon constitute a 13-member committee to look into the issues of the delimitation of electoral boundaries exercise in the state. Ibomcha, who is also an MLA of the Lamlai Assembly constituency, said that the BJP also reiterated that it has no objection to the delimitation of constituencies in the state if it is based on an authentic census.

The opposition Congress earlier also opposed any possible delimitation exercises in the state based on the 2001 census report, demanding a thorough rectification of the census data before re-demarcation of electoral boundaries.

Congress Vice-President in Manipur, Hareshwar Goswami, had said that the issue of inaccuracy in the 2001 census arose after detecting a disproportionate growth rate of people in nine subdivisions across three districts in the state. The Congress leader said that the party supports delimitation, but it must be based on a correct census without any errors. Everyone knows that the 2001 census had many irregularities, he claimed.

“Most people, political parties, civil societies and social organisations in Manipur are not opposed to the delimitation process. But they are asking for it to be conducted based on a genuine Census,” Goswami pointed out. He said that the Congress’ stance on re-demarcation of electoral boundaries is that the exercise must be conducted on the basis of a correct Census and hence the delimitation must be deferred till 2026.