Today, On 8th August, The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a PIL filed by the Delimitation Demand Committee for Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. The bench said it will soon fix a date for a detailed hearing.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said it will hear a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Delimitation Demand Committee for the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland.
The petition relates to the demand for delimitation in these north-eastern states.
The matter came before a bench consisting of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
He also mentioned that he remembered “a reference to the Northeast” in that judgment.
During the brief hearing, Justice Kant asked the petitioner’s counsel,
“Have you read the recent judgment?”
In reply, the counsel said,
“I have read the Jammu & Kashmir judgment,”
But explained that,
“It is different from the present case.”
After hearing the short exchange, the Supreme Court said it would fix a date for the detailed hearing of the PIL.
Delimitation in the context of these north-eastern states means redrawing the boundaries of Assembly or Parliamentary constituencies so that each constituency has roughly equal population representation.
Article 82 of the Constitution mandates delimitation (redrawing of electoral boundaries) after every census, but the four northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland haven’t undergone this exercise since the 1970s