E-Paper
TURF TROUBLE
NO POLITICIAN LIKES to lose his fiefdom. And the prospect of searching for new political 'homes' stares a number of politicians in the face. All this has happened due to the proposals for delimitation of constituencies. According to these proposals, the boundaries of many constituencies are being altered and some unreserved ones are being reserved. Clearly, for now, the focus has shifted to the ongoing delimitation process in Uttar Pradesh.
Fresh demarcation of existing constituencies and the proposal to reserve some of them may rob bigwigs of their political homes.
NO POLITICIAN LIKES to lose his fiefdom. And the prospect of searching for new political 'homes' stares a number of politicians in the face. All this has happened due to the proposals for delimitation of constituencies. According to these proposals, the boundaries of many constituencies are being altered and some unreserved ones are being reserved.
Clearly, for now, the focus has shifted to the ongoing delimitation process in Uttar Pradesh.
It is in this backdrop that the Delimitation Commission of India begins public hearings on Sunday on the objections received against the proposals.
Already, stiff opposition has been witnessed in the corridors of power here to the new demarcation of the existing constituencies.
There is more opposition to the amendments proposing reservation of constituencies that senior leaders represent, or those that fall in their home districts.
The proposals, if implemented, could make or mar the careers of many senior leaders of the state. Take the case of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former chief minister Kalyan Singh. His Bulandshahr Lok Sabha constituency will become a reserved seat. The same will be true of his home district Aligarh.
Congress MP Jitin Prasad's constituency Shahjahanpur is also being reserved.
The Hardoi Lok Sabha constituency in the home district of Samajwadi Party leader and Minister for Transport Naresh Agarwal has been taken out of the list of reserved constituencies.
The Lok Sabha constituency of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's home district Etawah is also being reserved.
Yadav contested the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Mainpuri the status of which remains unchanged.
The name of Akbarpur Lok Sabha constituency (reserved) will be changed to Ambedkar Nagar and the constituency will not be reserved now. Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati had won the seat in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. Later, she opted for the Rajya Sabha.
The Machhlishahar Lok Sabha constituency, from where State BJP president Keshri Nath Tripathi had lost the Lok Sabha polls, has been reserved now.
Changes have been made in the constituency of senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, too. The Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat, from where senior Congress Leader Satish Sharma had lost the Lok Sabha polls, does not find a place on the list of new Lok Sabha constituencies. Also significant is the change in the constituency of Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari. His Rampur Khas Vidhan Sabha constituency now becomes a part of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli constituency. Tiwari is learnt to have given a representation against the proposed changes in his constituency.
Additions and alterations in the constituency of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar have upset him. Two assembly constituencies of Ghazipur have been added to his constituency, while others have been taken out. On the other hand, associate members of the commission are learnt to have succeeded in incorporating amendments concerning the area of their seats, in accordance with their wishes. Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal has been able to effect necessary changes in the proposals. Another associate member and BSP leader Brijesh Pathak has been able to take out his Unnao Lok Sabha seat from the proposed reservation list. Congress leader and former chief minister Ram Naresh Yadav has also been able to get the necessary changes made. An associate member Ravi Prakash Verma has been able to get his constituency removed from the proposed reservation list.
Significantly, the Delimitation Commission has made changes in the draft proposals that had also evoked strong reactions. For example, the draft proposals had indicated renaming of the Ayodhya and the Hastinapur Vidhan Sabha constituencies. Both Ayodhya and Hastinapur, however, find a place on the list of proposed Vidhan Sabha constituencies, as per the official gazette published on July 28, 2006. Sources said the commission decided to restore the names of the two constituencies following strong protests from the associate members of the commission. The gazette also carries the dissenting proposals from the associate members. A dissenting proposal of BJP leader and associate member of the commission Narendra Kumar Singh Gaur has also been enclosed in the official gazette. This includes proposal for amendments in the recommendations for three Lok Sabha constituencies Fatehpur, Kaushambi and Phoolpur. His dissenting note also includes restoration of Aligarh Lok Sabha constituency as a general seat. Gaur has also objected to the proposal to reserve Bulandshahar and Hathras Lok Sabha seats, considered to be the areas of influence of Kalyan Singh. Gaur, in his dissenting proposal, said that many constituencies, having a 31 per cent Scheduled Caste population, were not reserved. But, Aligarh, with a SC population of merely 21.89 percent, was being included in the list of reserved seats. Gaur has been able to get desired amendments in his constituency that was being renamed Jhusi. It will now be renamed Allahabad West.
The boundaries of assembly constituencies should not overlap districts. The number of assembly segments varies from two to 12 with Allahabad, having the distinction of accommodating a dozen Vidhan Sabha constituencies.
A Vidhan Sabha constituency is being constituted on the basis of a population of 4.12 lakh. A total of five assembly constituencies will make one Lok Sabha constituency. As there are 403 Vidhan Sabha constituencies, only three Lok Sabha constituencies -Unnao, Fatehpur and Shahjahanpur -- have been allowed to have six assembly segments.
There have been also minor changes in many constituencies. At many places, one or more tehsils have been taken out or included in the proposed new constituency. At many other places, an assembly segment, or even more than one assembly constituency has been taken out, or included in the draft proposals. No changes, though, have been proposed in the total number of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies. The additions and alterations, coupled with change of names of the constituencies, may upset the applecart of many a politician. If those associated with the delimitation process are to be believed, the areas of more than 50 per cent Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha constituencies have been changed. So, the Delimitation Commission has received at least 980 complaints seeking changes in the draft proposals for the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies.
Next delimitation after 30 years
There is sufficient reason for the politicians to oppose proposals of the Delimitation Commission as the amended structure of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha constituencies will remain in force for nearly 30 years. So, a precious period of nearly one generation will be affected by the ongoing exercise. The next delimitation will be possible only after 2034 as the Constitutional provisions provide that the next delimitation work would commence only after the first census that may take place after 2026. As the Census would take place only in 2031, and results would be out in next two to three years, the delimitation of constituencies would be possible only after 2034.
