DELIMITATION DILEMMA and the consequent turf trouble

THE POLITICAL map of Uttar Pradesh is set to change in the days to come. As the debate on the preliminary draft report concerning delimitation of constituencies generates heat, all eyes are set on the proposed meeting of Delimitation Commission to take place in New Delhi on January 24. If major political parties ? the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party ? were to be believed, the delimitation exercise may well be a ticking time bomb.

The draft proposal of the Delimitation Committee has set the cat among the pigeons. The people in khadi are a worried lot for they can see that the proposal not only changes the political map of the State, it also puts in a state of flux the caste equations in affected constituencies.

HT Image

THE POLITICAL map of Uttar Pradesh is set to change in the days to come.
As the debate on the preliminary draft report concerning delimitation of constituencies generates heat, all eyes are set on the proposed meeting of Delimitation Commission to take place in New Delhi on January 24. If major political parties – the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party — were to be believed, the delimitation exercise may well be a ticking time bomb.

The delimitation of constituencies is bound to unsettle political equations of bigwigs cutting across the political spectrum, as the exercise would upset existing caste equations. While some of the reserved constituencies have been unreserved, many constituencies have been renamed with addition and alteration in the geographical area.

Bigwigs whose constituencies may be directly affected with the delimitation exercise include the BJP vice-president Kalyan Singh, State BJP president Keshari Nath Tripathi, former Chief Minister Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Salman Khurshid’s wife, Louis Khurshid and Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari, who has already created a record of sorts, winning from Rampur-Khas Vidhan Sabha constituency on same election symbol, consecutively for the ninth time now. Others being affected include Vidhan Sabha Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey and Deputy Speaker Rajesh Agarwal.

As additions and alterations are being made in most constituencies, the heavyweights would have to find a new constituency, or rehash their political and caste strategies, to have an upper hand in the new arrangement. Ayodhya and Hastinapur are the two prominent Vidhan Sabha constituencies that would no more figure on the State’s political map. Both names find their origin in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The State BJP has already opposed the move of renaming the constituencies. There are already reports of demonstrations from Meerut against the proposed renaming of Hastinapur. More such protests may follow at other places. Senior BJP leaders have expressed concern on the proposed change of names.

The issue cropped up at meetings held early this week to get a feedback on the delimitation issue. A senior BJP functionary said complaints have been received from nearly all constituencies. Additions and alterations have disturbed caste combinations and thereby, evoked strong reactions, he said adding renaming of constituencies was not acceptable.

Yet there appears no other choice. As per indications, the Delimitation Commission is unlikely to accept any major amendments in the preliminary draft report that would be discussed threadbare at the January 24 meeting. An amendment in the report would be considered only if reallocation of geographical area in any constituency causes practical problems-like increased travel time to the district or sub-divisional headquarters. Isolation of any area and requests for transfer of any area to any other constituency may be considered after hearing both parties.

According to State Election Commissioner and Delimitation Commission member Aparamita Prasad Singh, most politicians have expressed concern more on the changed caste combinations in their respective constituencies than the change in geographical area. After presiding over a meeting of associated members of Delimitation Commission, Singh said most representatives of various political parties appeared concerned about their own constituencies. He said the Delimitation Commission was unlikely to entertain such objections.

Besides bringing down the number of reserved constituencies from 89 to 85, the Delimitation Commission proposes to rename many of them, along with reallocating or altering their areas. There will, however, be no change in the total number of Vidhan Sabha seats in the State. A number of new Vidhan Sabha constituencies would, therefore, come up on the political map. New names may include NOIDA in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Rampur Maniharana in Saharanpur, Shaulana, Loni and Sahibabad in Ghaziabad.

A close scrutiny of the delimitation proposals indicates that 23 out of 70 districts would be affected in the current delimitation exercise if total number of Vidhan Sabha constituencies in a particular district were taken into account.

Baghpat, Bulandshahar, Hathras, Etah, Mainpuri, Budaun, Hardoi, Unnao, Etawah, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Barabanki, Bahraich, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Ballia and Jaunpur districts figure among those that would lose one constituency.

On the other hand, Ghaziabad figures among the districts that stand to gain. Ghaziabad would gain three more constituencies, while Sravasti and Sonebhadra would gain two more constituencies each. In Bijnor, Rampur, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Firozabad, Kheri, Lucknow, Allahabad, Kushinagar and Varanasi one constituency would be added. With the proposed changes, Allahabad would have the highest number of 12 constituencies.

Interestingly, apprehensions that the proposed changes in the constituencies may be put into effect in the coming Vidhan Sabha polls due in early 2007, has sent shivers down the spine of politicians, many of whom have been taken aback. A stream of visitors continues to flow into the Janpath office of the Election Commission, to enquire how their constituency may be affected in the proposed arrangement. Officers are tired asserting that the proposed delimitation would be implemented after the Vidhan Sabha polls but this has not satisfied political bosses who still remain apprehensive about the date of implementation.