Commission to make proposals public

The Delimitation Commission, which met here to discuss Meghalaya's case on Wednesday, decided to convene a meeting of the commission with its associated members on February 2. The final report is likely to be applicable only for 2013 Assembly polls. The February 2 meeting will be attend by the five MLAs belonging to different political parties and two Lok Sabha members from the State -- Purno A Sangma and Union Minister P R Kyndiah.
After the meeting the Commission would make the proposals public for wider discussions in the state and to elicit suggestions. The Commission would then have meetings in the state to have public hearing after which the delimitation proposal would be finalised, sources said.
After the finalization, the same would be sent to President for his assent. But it's the Election Commission, which would implement the proposal after the Presidential assent, it added.
In case of Meghalaya, the elections are due in February next year for which the election process would start in about six months time and notification has to be issued before about three months to give time for campaign, the sources pointed out. Hence, it is highly unlikely that the delimitation would be applicable in 2008 polls, the sources said. "If everything goes well the delimitation would be applied in 2013 elections," it added.
The Commission has taken 2001 census as the base to delimit the constituencies. Through the process of delimitation of Assembly constituencies, some districts in Meghalaya are, on the basis of the population structure, likely to lose one or two constituencies as part of the process of re-adjustment. There would not be any change in case of the two Lok Sabha seats -- Shillong and Tura.
Status-quo would be maintained with the number of MeghalayaAssembly constituencies in Garo Hills (24) and Khasi-Jaintia Hills (36), but there are indications that some districts will have to forego one or two constituencies. There would be change in boundaries and each assembly constituency would be geographically contiguous, compact and within one district, the sources said.
In West Garo Hills, the number of seats would be reduced to 14 from the present 15, whereas one more seat would be added to South Garo Hills which has two Assembly seats at present. The seven seats in East Garo Hills will remain unchanged.
In East Khasi Hills, the number of seats will be reduced to 17 from the present 19. Ri Bhoi district, which has at present four seats, will get one more constituency. West Khasi Hills will also gain by one seat from the present six. All the seven constituencies of Jaintia Hills will remain the same though there will be modifications in the internal boundary.