Representatives of 14 major political parties in Manipur will on June 17 chalk out a joint strategy against the Union government’s plan to carry out delimitation of the Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies on the basis of the “incorrect” and “highly objectionable” 2001 Census report.
Meanwhile, representatives of other parties that had formed the Manipur Democratic Alliance will send memoranda to the President, Prime Minister, Governor and others pleading against the delimitation.
President of the Manipur unit of Shiv Sena and convener of the MDA M. Tombi said, “We have no objection if the number of seats are increased in the hills. But there will be untoward incidents if the number of Assembly seats is decreased in the valley areas.
Congress MLA A. Mirabai said, “If the political map of the State is changed based on the 2001 Census, there will be unforeseen bloody ferments. Reports are that two seats each in the Imphal West and the Bishnupur Assembly constituencies will be lost. The delimitation should be done based on the 2021 Census”.
M. Okendra, president of the Manipur unit, Congress, said: “There were abnormal rises in the populations in nine sub-divisions in the hills”. However, no such trend was seen in the valley areas.
Three-time Chief Minister and now CLP leader Okram Ibobi said, “During the Congress tenure, we had opposed the plan to conduct delimitation basing on the 2001 Census report. Ten political parties here had gone to the Gauhati High Court. The court had admitted the petition. The Union government went to the Supreme Court and had issued a stay order against the High Court ruling. Eventually, the Union government had issued an order saying that the delimitation was postponed.
All political parties are in full agreement that the 2001 Census report has an abnormal rise. The rise was from 41 to 169%. However, such a rise was not seen in other constituencies in the State.
L. Sotinkumar, the State secretary of the CPI, said, “The CPI has been demanding that the State government should object to the Union government’s plan to hold the Census based on the 2001 count”.
