Delimitation notification: relief to many, blow to surjewala
A number of political bigwigs in Haryana Friday heaved a sign of relief on seeing the final notification on the delimitation of 90 assembly constituencies in the state, reports Navneet Sharma.
A number of political bigwigs in Haryana Friday heaved a sign of relief on seeing the final notification on the delimitation of 90 assembly constituencies in the state.
Vidhan Sabha Speaker and Beri MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian, Palwal MLA Karan Singh Dalal, Meham MLA Anand Singh Dangi, Education Minister and Mulana MLA Phool Chand Mulana and Health Minister and Kalanaur MLA Kartar Devi among those who have got relief in the final notification. Transport Minister and Narwana MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala will, however, have to look for new assembly constituencies now.
The Delimitation Commission headed by Justic Kuldip Singh (retd.), which was constituted in 2002 for reorganization of the 90 assembly segments and reservation of 17 of them on the basis of population, had published a draft notification in October 2006. It got a number of prominent leaders worried as their constutiences were either being reserved or reorganized/renamed. And most of them including Dalal and Surjewala made written or oral submissions during the public hearings held at Kurukshetra, Gurgoan and Rohtak last November. The commission published the final notification after considering all objections and suggestions.
The commission had mooted reservation of Beri in district, Meham in Rohtak district and Palwal in Faridabad district in its draft notification. Beri, which is represented by Kadian in the State Assembly, was to be reserved in place of Jhajjar assembly constituency. The commission has now decided to retain Jhajjar as a reserved constituency for Scheduled Castes. Similarly, there was a proposal to reserve Meham in Rohtak district in place of Kalanaur, but the latter has been retained as reserved constituency in the final notification.
In Faridabad district, Palwal, which has elected firebrand leader Dalal four times, was proposed to be reserved in place of Hassanpur. The commission has reserved Hodal now. Besides, Mullana was also proposed to be reorganized/named as Barara, but its name has been retained. Kartar Devi’s Kalanaur was to be reorganized and its areas were to be combined with the other constitutencies in the Rohtak district. Its name has been retained.
The notification has, however, dealt a double blow to Randeep Surjewala, whose Narwana assembly segment has not only been reserved, but also included in Sirsa Parliamentary constituency. He will have to look for a new constituency to contest the next elections. Similarly, the Rori assembly constituency of Chautala, who has met Surjewala in several all-out battles in Narwana, has also been reorganized/renamed as Kalanwali reserved segment. When contacted, Surjewala said that he was extremely disappointed at the manner in which the constituency had been reserved despite the submissions made by most of the panchayats, municipal bodies and the people of the area.
Welcoming the final notification, Karan Singh Dalal said the commission had shown that it considered the objections and suggestions made by the people during the public hearings. Among the districts, Faridabad has gained maximum with the number of assembly constituencies in the area going up to nine from five. Gurgaon, too, has benefited.
It has seven assembly segments now as against three earlier. The total number of assembly constituencies in Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s home district of Rohtak has come down to four from five though. The Panchkula district has two assembly constituencies – Kalka and Panchkula - now.