Creation of 19 new districts alters political landscape of Rajasthan

Jaipur, Aug 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) At a time when there are discussions on changing weather system and demographics in Rajasthan, the political landscape of the desert state has also changed with the creation of 19 new districts, taking the total number of districts to 50.

Jaipur, which was the largest district of the state is now divided into Jaipur city and Jaipur rural, both having eight assembly seats.

Besides Jaipur, Alwar, Jodhpur and Nagaur have been split. Similarly, the newly-created districts of Kekri, Salumber and Dudu will now have only one assembly each.

Dudu will be the smallest district in state.

Meanwhile, experts say that after the formation of new districts, there may be an increase in the confusion regarding the assemblies. 

The Election Commission in the book 'Changing Face of Electoral India - Delimitation 2008' has said that all the assemblies should be within the limits of their district. That is, one assembly should not be divided into more than one district. But there are dozens of such assemblies in Rajasthan, which will be divided into one or more districts.

Broadly, there are many such assemblies, which will be held in more than one district. Sanganer, Jhotwara, Amer and Bagru from Jaipur will come in both Jaipur city and rural districts. Similarly, in Jodhpur, the part of Sursagar will come in Jodhpur city and rural.

Todabhim assembly will be divided into Gangapur and Karauli districts, Aspur assembly into Salumber and Dungarpur districts, Jaitaran assembly into Pali and Beawar and Khajuwala into Bikaner and Anupgarh.

Similarly, many other assemblies will be divided among the districts of Alwar-Khairthal, Neem Ka Thana-Sikar, Alwar-Kotputli-Behror, Neem Ka Thana-Jhunjhunu, Barmer-Balotra, Nagaur-Didwana.

Professor Seema Jalan, an expert on delimitation and Professor in the Department of Geography, states that the EC has given guidelines for the demarcation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in the country. In the past, this guideline for making assembly constituencies was being violated, so this inconsistency was removed during the re-delimitation of assembly constituencies in 2008.

Meanwhile, Ramlal Jat, Revenue Minister, Rajasthan, says, "The next Delimitation Commission will decide its criteria accordingly. We have tried that the assemblies remain in one district only, but what to do if the public protests, he added.

With the formation of new districts, there are many such assemblies, which have shifted from one district to another.

Jaipur district has been divided into four districts. In such a situation, 19 assemblies of the Jaipur district will be divided into four districts.

Jaipur city and rural, both will have around eight assemblies each. Among these, Adarsh Nagar, Civil Lines, Hawamahal, Jhotwara, Kishanpole, Malviyanagar, Vidyadharnagar and Sanganer will be constituencies in Jaipur city.

While Jaipur Rural will have Bassi, Chaksu, Jamvaramgarh, Chaumun, Phulera, Shahpura, Bagru and Amer. Similarly, Kotputli and Biratnagar, the earlier assemblies of Jaipur, have now shifted to Kotputli-Behror district. Whereas Dudu earlier in Jaipur will be an individual district with only one assembly (Dudu).

Jodhpur has been divided into two districts, while Phalodi has been made a new district. In such a situation, till now 10 Vidhan Sabhas coming in Jodhpur district will also be divided.

Maximum five assembly seats Luni, Bhopalgarh, Osian, Shergarh and Bilada will come in Jodhpur rural district while Jodhpur, Sardarpura and Sursagar assemblies will be in Jodhpur city. Phalodi and Lohawat will be in Phalodi district. However, many of these assemblies will come in the part of more than one district.

Similarly, Alwar was the second largest district after Jaipur in terms of number of assemblies with 11 seats. Now only six assemblies will remain in Alwar.

These will include Alwar City, Alwar Rural, Kathumar, Rajgarh-Laxmangarh, Thanagji, Ramgarh Assemblies while Kishangarhbas, Tijara and Mundavar Assemblies of Alwar district will come under Khairtal district. On the other hand, Behror and Bansur assemblies will come under Kotputli-Behror district.

Similarly, till now there were seven assemblies in Barmer. But now Balotra district has been carved out of Barmer. In such a situation, now these 7 assemblies have been divided in these two districts. The assembly structure of Bharatpur and Bhilwara districts will also change with new landscape.

After the new system of districts, Nagaur district with 10 assembly seats will now be left with only 5 seats. Further, there were 8 assemblies in Sikar and 7 in Jhunjhunu district. But now 2-2 assemblies of both these districts will come in the newly formed Neemkathana district.

Besides new districts, three new divisions namely Sikar, Banswara and Pali have been formed taking the total count to 10 divisions in state.

The list of divisions, new districts and total number of assembly seats are as follows:

Jaipur: Jaipur City, Jaipur Rural, Dudu, Dausa, Kotputli-Behror, Alwar, Khairthal: 35 assembly seats

Ajmer: Ajmer, Beawar, Nagaur, Tonk, Didwana-Kuchaman, Shahpura, Kekri: 25 assembly seats

Udaipur: Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Salumber: 22 assembly seats

Sikar: Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu, Neemkathana: 21 assembly seats

Jodhpur: Jodhpur City, Jodhpur Rural, Phalodi, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Balotra: 19 assembly seats

Bikaner: Bikaner, Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Anupgarh: 19 assembly seats

Bharatpur: Bharatpur, Dhaulpur, Karauli, Deeg, Sawaimadhopur, Gangapur City: 19 assembly seats

Kota: Kota, Jhalawar, Bundi, Baran: 16 assembly seats

Pali: Pali, Jalore, Sanchore, Sirohi: 13 assembly seats

Banswara: Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh: 11 assembly seats

Source: IANS