Page 118 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

Leap of Faith Journey of Indian Elections

CEC M.S Gill
with J M Lyngdoh, EC (CEC 2001-2004)

The Election Commission's Golden Jubilee Celebrations The Constitution (Eighty-Fourth Amendment) Act, 2001
were held a year later in the national capital, in the Plenary was enacted on February 21, 2002. The legislation
Hall of Vigyan Bhawan on January 17, 2001. K.R. Narayanan, extended the time period of freeze - originally imposed
the then President of India, presided over the event by the Constitution (Forty-Second Amendment) Act,
whereas the keynote address was delivered by the then 1976- against fresh readjustment of Parliamentary and
Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A symposium Assembly Constituencies until the figures of the first
on ‘Global Dimensions of Electoral Democracy’ was hosted census taken after the year 2026 are published. The
at India Habitat Centre on January 18 as part of the event. It Parliament also passed the Delimitation Act, 2002
drew participation from Electoral Management Bodies leading to formation of first Delimitation Commission in
(EMBs) of 22 nations. Papers presented at the symposium nearly three decades. Under the Act, the Government of
were later published in form of a book. India notified a Delimitation Commission chaired by

Around the same time, the EVM footprints were Justice Kuldip Singh (Retd) on July 12, 2002. The
expanding appreciably. On May 10, 2001 they were used in Delimitation Commission started functioning from
all polling booths (except in Assam) in the single-phased Nirvachan Sadan. Its objective was to readjust the
elections to legislative assemblies of five states/UT viz. territorial constituencies with regard to seats allocated to
Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Pondicherry (now states in the Lok Sabha and of seats in legislative
Puducherry) and Assam. J.M. Lyngdoh became the 12 assemblies in each state except erstwhile J&K without in
th
Chief Election Commissioner of India on June 13, 2001. anyway altering their numbers.

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