TN delimitation process violating guidelines: PT

Madurai, Apr 17 (UNI) The ongoing delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu is being carried out in violation of the guidelines, Puthiya Thamizhagam (PT) President and Dalit Leader K Krishnasamy said.

Demanding that the Election Commission (EC) review the entire process, he told newspersons here that it was not appropriate to consider only population as the sole criterion for delimitation, as other parameters like geographical spread and the rural-urban specificities should be taken into account.

In utter violation of the guidelines, published in the 2002 gazette notification, the constituencies reserved for the Dalits have not been evenly distributed across the regions in the state.

The authorities were concentrating in the northern districts depriving other regions, he alleged.

To press the EC to reconsider the entire exercise and rectify the shortcomings, the PT would launch series of protests, starting with fasts at the block level from May two in the southern districts.

Expressing anguish at way the Dalits in the South, Central and West regions were being deprived of their constitutionally provided political space and representation, Dr Krishnasamy said this was contrary to Clause three of Section nine of the guidelines.

He said the redrawing of the boundaries of the existing constituencies, instead of rectifying the prevailing lacunae, had opened up the pandora's box.

Criticising the present programme as urban-centric, Dr Krishnasamy urged the EC to limit the maximum number of voters to 1.5 lakh for a constituency in the rural areas.

In the rural area, the number of constituencies should be increased ensuring that the geographical spread did not become too large and unwieldy, he opined.

UNI