GUWAHATI, Assam: After the Election Commission’s decision to begin the delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies on the basis of the 2001 Census, the Assam Cabinet decided to re-merge four newly formed districts with the existing ones. The Election Commission instructed the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam to raise the issue with the state administration and issue a blanket prohibition on the creation of new administrative units beginning on January 1, 2023, until the state’s delimitation process was complete.
The Cabinet decided to re-merge the district of Bajali with the Barpeta district, the district of Biswanath with the Sonitpur district, the district of Tamulpur to be merged with the Baksa district, and the Hojai district is to be merged with the district of Nagaon. The cabinet has also decided that North Guwahati Town Committee to be now under Kamrup Metropolitan District and all the other re-merged districts will be subdivisions.
The Chief Minister of Assam stated that this is a temporary measure for the delimitation process and the total number of districts will come down from 35 to 31. Several organisations have staged protests against the cabinet’s decision and stated that the protest will intensify if the decision is not reversed.