Delimitation could change poll equations in Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) With delimitation of the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies redefining areas of Assembly segments across the country, political equations in Delhi could undergo a change in the coming elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly, to be held on November 29.

The altered face of Assembly segments in Delhi following the delimitation order, which has led to the ''disappearance of some constituencies to be replaced by new ones'' could result in some politicians having to look for new constituencies either because of change in reservation status or due to their being cut altogether.

While the number of Assembly seats in Delhi following delimitation remains unchanged at 70, the constituencies have been redrawn considerably. For example, the number of SC seats in the Delhi Assembly has gone down from 13 to 11.

With implementation of the delimitation order, the composition of all the Delhi Assembly constituencies has changed with more or less equal number of voters in each of them. While 19 segments now cease to exist, an equal number of new ones have been created.

The old constituencies which have been deleted from the list are Sarojini Nagar, Gole Market, Minto Road, Hauz Khas, Sahibabad Daulatpur, Vishnu Garden, Hastsal, Nasirpur, Mahipalpur, Saket, Mandawli, Geeta Colony, Nand Nagari, Yamuna Vihar, Bhalswa Jahangirpuri, Paharganj, Kamla Nagar, Ram Nagar and Baljeet Nagar.

The newly formed 19 Assembly seats are Burari, Rithala, Mundka, Kirari, Rohini, Vikaspuri, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Matiala, Bijwasan, Chhatarpur, Deoli, Sangam Vihar, Greater Kailash, Kondli, Laxmi Nagar, Gokulpur, Mustafabad and New Delhi. Election officials said after the delimitation exercise was carried out on the basis of the population census 2001, no Assembly constituency had more than 2 lakh voters.

As per the Delimitation, now each of the seven Lok Sabha constituency in Delhi will have an average of 19.78 lakh voters and each of the 10 Assembly constituencies therein an average of 1.97 lakh electorate.

While Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's Gole Market now cease to exist, others like BJP Ghonda MLA Bhisham Sharma have to contend with the deletion of his constituency in the new delimitation order.

In the case of Gole Market, it would now pave the way for the New Delhi Assembly segment that would retain Sarojini Nagar, but lose Chanakyapuri to Delhi Cantonment segment.

In the post delimitation set up, Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia's constituency of Geeta Colony has ceased to exist, being replaced by Laxmi Nagar Assembly segment.

Kulwant Rana's Assembly segment of Shahbad Daulatpur has been replaced by Rithala, while Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma's Assembly segment of Hastsal has given way to Vikaspuri Assembly segment. Mahabal Misra's seat of Nasirpur has now given way to Dwarka, while Ramakant Goswami's assembly seat of Patel Nagar is a reserved one under the new set up. On the other hand, BJP's Charan Singh Khandera's Narela, which was a reserved seat in the earlier polls, is now a general seat.

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