The Assam cabinet approved the administrative merger of four newly formed districts with present districts. Biswanath district will be merged with Sonitpur, Hojai will be merged with Nagaon, Tamulpur district will be merged with Baksa, and Bajali district is being merged with Barpeta district.
This has been done in accordance with the Election Commission’s order on delimitation, mandating that Assam government makes no adjustments in any districts or administrative units from January 1, 2023, because the state will start its delimitation process.
Some groups of locals protested towards the decision in Bajali and Biswanath.
The authorities stated police and judicial operations will continue in those districts, and all different district offices which have been created during this period will continue in order that no officials or employees face any difficulty.
“These decisions were taken because of administrative ascendancy and in the interest of Assam, and the society. We have decided to re-merge four districts. Decisions were taken in the interest of Assam’s future,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated.
He stated this is a temporary measure for the delimitation process.
Delimitation is the technique of solving limits or obstacles of the territorial constituencies in a rustic or a nation with a legislative body.
Earlier, the Election Commission on December 27 stated it had initiated the delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Assam and could use the 2001 census figures for the readjustment of seats, on the request of the Union Law Ministry.
Opposition parties have protested the move, accusing the BJP of looking to modify Muslim-majority seats in Assam for their advantage.
Several critics have additionally wondered the motivation behind the use of statistics from the 2001 Census and not the more recent 2011 Census, according to which the population of Muslims in Assam has increased through 3.3 per cent – the highest growth in the country.