The next Lok Sabha elections will be held in redrawn constituencies, an exercise that has already made many politicians unhappy.After over three years of painstaking work, the Delimitation Commission chief concedes there will some politicians who will be unhappy over change in constituencies but feels by and large political parties are not opposed to the exercise.“If the government notifies, why not. If the government notifies by the end of January, after February 1, every election will be held under the new exercise,” retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Kuldeep Singh said in an interview.Asked whether the next general elections, if advanced, could be held under the redrawn exercise, he said it all depended upon the Government. After the presidential notification, the Election Commission would have to prepare the voters’ list and this exercise would take three to four months, he said, adding “the EC is very efficient. It will do it.”The Commission, which was constituted in 2001 and began its work in the middle of 2004, has almost completed work in all the states barring four states in the northeast, redrawing the boundaries of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies.Work has been completed in 513 of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies in and 3,726 Assembly constituencies in 25 states resulting in a net addition of six seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliament and 68 in the Assemblies. Justice Singh said, “No politician will be happy because the delimitation exercise is being done after 30 years. Every politician is contesting and getting elected from one constituency for many years. He knows who his voters are.”Observing that almost all constituencies have undergone changes, some major and some minor, and that no politician will like any change in his constituency, he, however, said it was not correct to say that all parties were opposing it.The copies of the Commission’s orders in respect of 25 states were placed on the table of Parliament during its winter session, which saw protests by some opposition MPs including ruling alliance constituent RJD, demanding that the Commission’s report be kept in abeyance.The Commission had recently written to the Centre to have the Presidential order issued for the implementation of the readjustment in respect of the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies where the redrawing exercise has been completed.The delay in implementation of the orders of the Commission was challenged in the apex court which has issued notice to the Centre to explain the reasons for the delay.The petition filed by an NGO, Delhi Study Group, had sought immediate implementation of the Commission’s recommendations so that the coming elections in various states are held in accordance with the re-defined boundaries of the constituencies. The petitioner alleged that despite the Commission making its recommendations, the Centre has been dragging its feet on getting the Presidential assent.Recently the Telengana Rashtra Samiti had dubbed the UPA government as “regressive” for delaying the implementation of the delimitation of constituencies and hurting the interests of dalits and tribals.
