GUWAHATI, March 8 - The delimitation exercise will be totally transparent and political parties and other stakeholders will be consulted while the process is being undertaken, said BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav here today.
�During the delimitation exercise the political parties will be involved and a lot of other stakeholders will also be consulted. It is a very detailed and transparent exercise,� Madhav said addressing a press conference.
The Centre recently ordered delimitation exercise in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland citing improvement in the internal security situation. Delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies was conducted in other states in 2008. Former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai will head the Delimitation Commission that will redraw the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly constituencies of the four states.
Asked about the report of the Clause 6 committee, Madhav said, �The State (government) is in the process of forwarding it to the Centre... As soon as it is received, the Central government will study the report and then take a decision on whether all suggestions can be implemented or incorporated in the statutes.�
Madhav said the State unit of the BJP will take a final decision regarding the forthcoming elections to the BTC. �Our State unit will take a final decision about how to proceed. There is still time,� said the senior saffron party leader.
To a question regarding the March 26 elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Assam, Madhav said the ruling alliance has the numerical strength to win two of the seats. �The candidates will be announced in next two-three days. We have (certain) commitments with our alliance partners. Those commitments will be honoured,� he added.
The BJP has earlier announced its decision to leave one of the seats for its ally BPF.
Regarding possibility of the Congress and the AIUDF fielding a joint candidate for the third seat, Madhav said, �They (Congress and AIUDF) are always together, whether publicly or surreptitiously.�
He alleged that the Congress and other forces tried to spread misinformation regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, but now the BJP has started a massive public outreach programme across Assam to �remove the misconceptions�.
�We recently held a big rally at Dibrugarh. The kind of response our party has received shows that there is no misconception in the minds of the people regarding the CAA. Congress is trying to spread misinformation not only in Assam but across the country,� he said.
On the question of the recent violence in Meghalaya and comments made by Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy regarding status of non-tribals in the state, Madhav said, �There are certain issues related to general safety and security of non-tribals in Shillong. Those issues have been in the notice of the state government also and the state government has taken steps to ensure that the security of each and every citizen, whether tribal or non-tribal, in Meghalaya is well protected. Maybe the Governor had some information based on which he made the observation. As far as I know the Chief Minister (of Meghalaya) has taken steps to ensure that the state remains peaceful.�
