Guwahati, Aug 17 Following the approval of the final delimitation proposal for Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam by the President of India, the opposition parties in the state have been raising questions about the pendency of cases against the process in the Supreme Court.
However, senior advocates in Assam have asserted that the top court is unlikely to issue any order to cancel the approved delimitation.
Speaking to IANS, senior advocate in the Gauhati High Court, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, said the case in the Supreme Court against the delimitation process has become useless. In other words, all the applications related to this case are to be rejected, he said.
However, according to Choudhury, the question of whether this delimitation has been done in accordance with the policy guidelines can be raised in the court.
“A new case can be filed on what action has been taken by the Election Commission in case of objections against this process. If not, amendment petitions can also be filed,” he said.
Another senior advocate of the high court, A.S. Tapadar, echoed the views of Choudhury, saying, “Section 10 of the Delimitation Act makes it clear that once the final delimitation is published, it cannot be challenged in any court. Therefore, if a case is challenged against this delimitation, it will become infructuous.”
He said that starting from Meghraj Kothari's case in the 1960s to Haji Abdul Ghani's case in 2023, the Supreme Court has observed that the final delimitation cannot be challenged in any court.
Tapadar also said that it is true that the aspects of population density, demographics or geographical boundaries may not be properly considered while redrawing the boundaries of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam.
“The Chief Minister repeatedly mentioned that the delimitation has accomplished the purpose that the NRC or the Assam Accord could not do. Such comments on delimitation are unconstitutional. A complaint can be taken to the Supreme Court, but the court will state that, once the delimitation is finalised, it cannot be challenged again, referring to Section 10," he said.
Another advocate, Khaddam Hussain, is also of the same opinion.
He said that there is no legal avenue open to challenge the final delimitation. The court will dismiss the case by showing the Constitution.
Dharmananda Deb, who practises in a district court in Cachar, told IANS that after the publication of the final delimitation in the Central and state gazettes, even if someone had earlier filed a case challenging it in the court, the hope of success is slim.
“In 1964, Meghraj Kothari had approached the court opposing the Scheduled Caste (SC) reservation of Ujjain Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, but the high court had said that the final delimitation cannot be challenged in any court,” Deb said.
He added that Kothari had then approached the Supreme Court, but the apex court had also dismissed his case.
The top court mentioned that if any voter is enabled to challenge the delimitation, it would result in suspension of the election forever.
--IANS
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