Furore in House over delimitation

The Delimitation Commission's recommendations on redrawing boundaries of constituencies caused uproar in Lok Sabha, report Anil Anand and Saroj Nagi.

The Delimitation Commission's recommendations on redrawing boundaries of constituencies caused uproar in Lok Sabha on Friday with opposition MPs along with the ruling alliance partner RJD demanding the panel's report be kept in abeyance.

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The issue was raised by Prabhunath Singh (JD-U) after the Question Hour and was vociferously supported by BSP and Trinmool Congress.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the House till 2 pm after all his efforts to convince the MPs not to raise the issue in the manner failed. Later, it was adjourned sine-die as it was the last day of the Winter Session.

Prabhunath Singh alleged that the Commission "had not done its job properly and that it had misused the powers given to it by the Parliament". He was supported by RJD's Ram Kripal Yadav and Vijay Krishna. Trinmool chief Mamta Banerjee also joined the chorus. At this stage, BSP members led by Illiyas Azmi rushed to the well of the House to protest the Delimitation Commission's recommendations.

Meanwhile, the Telengana Rashtra Samiti dubbed the UPA government as "regressive" for delaying the implementation of delimitation of constituencies and hurting the interests of dalits and tribals. Following the delimitation exercise, the number of scheduled caste and tribe seats has increased by 12 in the Lok Sabha and 59 in the assembly.