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Bishnupur protests “clandestine” reorganisation

Correspondent

IMPHAL: The people of Bishnupur have decided to intensify their agitation against the Manipur government’s “clandestine” plan to bring all Assembly constituencies of the district under the Lok Sabha seat reserved for tribals.

A public meeting on Thursday disclaimed the announcement by Works Minister K. Ranjit that there was no truth in the report that State Election Commissioner N.Angou had secretly sent a report to the Delimitation Commission of India for reorganising the constituencies. The denial ought to have come from Chief Minister Okram Ibobi and Mr. Angou, the meeting felt. News of the report came at a time when the Chief Minister, as head of the All Political Parties Forum, had been urging the Centre not to reorganise constituencies on the basis of the 2001 census in some tribal areas.

According to recent reports, Mr. Angou recommended to the Delimitation Commission that one Assembly constituency in Bishnupur district be included in the Assembly segments reserved for tribals and that the remaining five seats be included in the Lok Sabha constituency for tribals.

This would mean non-tribals in the district cannot contest and can only vote to elect a tribal representative.

It was pointed out that since 1947 all seven Assembly segments in Thoubal district had been included under the reserved Lok Sabha seat.

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