All-party Jharkhand delegation meets PM on delimitation

New Delhi, Jul 27 (UNI) A high-level all-party delegation led by Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today and apprised him of the serious implications if the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission (DC) were implemented.

Later talking to newsmen, Mr Koda said there was complete dismay amongst the people of Jharkhand when the draft proposals of the DC became public towards the end of the last year.

He said these proposals provided, inter alia, for reduction of Schedule Tribe (ST) seats from 28 to 21 in the State Legislative Assembly and from 5 to 4 in the Lok Sabha.

He said they had apprised the Prime Minister about the issue earlier in January this year and submitted a memorandum on this for his consideration.

He said the separate state of Jharkhand was created to keep up with the public sentiments of the tribal people of the State and if this DC recommendation was allowed to be implemented, it would adversely undermine the representation of tribals in the apex democratic institutions.

Mr Koda said, in fact, it was because of similar considerations that the number of ST seats in the North Eastern States (NES) had been safeguarded and frozen by giving them a special status.

He said the Jharkhand Government had also asked for a similar constitutional safeguard for the tribal people of the State as being provided to the NES.

He said the State Government had also requested the Centre towards increasing the number of seats of the Legislative Assembly from 81 to 150 in view of its size and population.

Significantly, the number of seats in Chhattisgarh assembly was much more despite it having a much smaller population, Mr Koda added.

UNI