Hill based pol party bats for delimitation on 2001 census

Newmai News Network
IMPHAL, Jul 8: The People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA), a “recognized hill based political party” has welcomed the notification to carry out delimitation in Manipur on the basis of the 2001 census.
The notification was issued on February 28.
A statement issued by the president of the PDA said that, delimitation exercise is a Nationwide democratic exercise taken up under the provisions of Delimitation Commission Act of 2002 and added that the Delimitation Commission had completed delimitation exercise in 24 States before 2008 and the election to the “house of the people” in 2009 was carried out according to the guidelines of Delimitation Commission Act of 2002.
“However, delimitation exercise in 4 North Eastern States were deferred by an Ordinance issued by the President of India due to the pressure given by the then SPF Government led by O Ibobi Singh citing security reasons in the State which was nothing but a ploy to stall delimitation exercise in the State to prevent the re- adjustment of 3 Assembly seats from the valley districts to the hill districts.
The PDA said that there are many purposes of Delimitation exercise. One of the purposes is to provide equal representation to equal segments of a population. Another purpose is for fair distribution of geographical areas so that all the political parties have equal advantage in an election. The third purpose, according to the PDA, is to uphold the principle of ‘one vote, one value’.
Fourthly, the PDA said that Delimitation exercise is to ensure appropriate representations of the SCs and STs to the “House of the People” and to the State Assembly on the basis of 2001 census.
The PDA party said it was “shocked as to why all the leading political parties and leading organizations of Manipur are up against the democratic exercise taken under the provisions of the Constitution to ensure each and every citizen of the country exercise his or her democratic rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The PDA party, therefore, appealed to all the “responsible political parties and leading organisations to stand up together for the rights of the unrepresented and under-represented lot of the State in the interest of bringing equal development to the State by removing disparities in the representation to the “House of the People and to the State Assembly”. The PDA party assured that it would extend every possible help to ensure that every citizen fully enjoys the rights and privileges guaranteed by the Constitution of India.