Supreme Court gives 3 months to Centre for delimitation exercise in northeast

The benchdeferred the hearing to July 21 and asked the Centre to do the needful within three months.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted three months to the Centre for carrying out the delimitation exercise in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Assam.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna noted the request of Centre's solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who sought some more time.

The bench then deferred the hearing to July 21 and asked the Centre to do the needful within three months.

The top court had previously raised concerns over the delay in carrying out the delimitation exercise in these states despite a 2020 presidential order rescinding the deferment of the process.

"Once the president rescinds the notification, that is enough to proceed with the delimitation exercise. Where does the government come in?" the bench asked as it told the Centre's counsel to seek instructions.

The Centre said while consultations were underway for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, the ongoing violence in Manipur made the situation unconducive.

The bench was hearing a plea filed by "Delimitation Demand Committee for the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur & Nagaland in North East India".

The plea sought immediate implementation of the delimitation exercise in these states.

Advocate G Gangmei, representing the petitioner, had said the President’s 2020 order made the exercise legally mandatory.

He said two years had passed since the writ petition was filed, but no concrete steps were taken to initiate delimitation in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Manipur.

Assam alone saw progress, with delimitation completed in August 2023 following an order from the Ministry of Law and Justice, Gangmei added.

The Election Commission of India maintained that specific directions from the Central government were required to begin delimitation under Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

The petition cited the presidential order of February 28, 2020, which allowed delimitation in the four northeastern states, along with the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

It alleged selective denial of delimitation in these states, claiming a violation of the fundamental right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.

The plea highlighted that despite decades of elections being conducted peacefully in these states, no delimitation took place since the amendment of the Delimitation Act in 2002.

The lack of action left the northeastern states at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the country, it added.