Time for delimitation of Assembly segments, says Rao Inderjit Singh

Sumedha Sharma
Tribune News Service
Gurugram, August 2
Ahead of the upcoming state elections, BJP MP and Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh has raised the long-avoided issue of revised delimitation of various Assembly segments in Haryana.

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Incorporate changes
We need to relook at delimitation. An Assembly segment reserved for around 40 years now takes away the opportunity from other communities to represent it. We just need to review to incorporate changes in voters’ profile. — Rao Inderjit Singh, Union Minister

Highlighting disparity in various Lok Sabha constituencies in case of reserved Assembly segments and the number of voters, Rao said it was high time that delimitation was done before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. Addressing a public meeting, he said there were many Assembly segments which continued to be reserved for over 40 years though the number of a particular community voters had changed and so did the need of that segment. Similarly, he also highlighted how one Lok Sabha segment had not less than two reserved segments while there was none in another.
“We need to relook at delimitation. An Assembly segment reserved for around 40 years now takes away the opportunity to represent it from other communities. We just need to review to incorporate changes in voters’ profile,” said the Union Minister.
It may be noted that Gurgaon, the biggest Lok Sabha constituency of the state represented by Rao, has two reserved Assembly segments Bawal and Pataudi. The Bhiwani-Mahendergarh segment right next to it, where Rao enjoys strong support owing to Ahir voters, doesn’t even have a single reserved Assembly segment. Gurgaon proves to be a difficult battle for any candidate as out of nine Assembly segments, two are reserved and three falling in Nuh district are dominated by dynasts of Meo-Muslims. This leaves only four Assembly segments for a candidate to score votes. Not only community reservations but also the voter distribution in the Lok Sabha constituencies needs to be looked into, according to Rao’s supporters.