Bihar leaders oppose Delimitation Commission proposal

Bihar's top leaders are against the Delimitation Commission's draft proposal for revamped boundaries of electoral constituencies and renaming of a few existing ones.

Leaders, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Lok Janshakti Party chief and Union Minister of Steel Ramvilas Paswan and RJD leader and Union Minister of Rural Development Raghvansh Prasad Singh, openly expressed their unhappiness over the draft proposal.

They are opposed to the draft report as many of them would have to find new parliamentary or Assembly constituencies, as the commission wants to scap existing ones.

Under the new provision, seven existing Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar including Vaishali, Jhanjharpur, Barh, Balia, Saharsa, Rosera, and Bikramganj will cease to exist

Nitish Kumar said that several anomalies exist in the draft proposal of the Delimitation Commission.

He was unhappy over the fact that the commission wants to scrap Vaishali as well as Nalanda Lok Sabha constituencies.

"It is difficult to understand the logic behind the move to remove the name of Vaishali as had been the case with Nalanda last time," he said.

Raghuvansh Prasad said the new delimitation is a blatant attempt to ravage the political boundaries of the state constituencies, and is designed to favor the National Democratic Alliance while punishing parties like RJD, Congress and other United Progressive Alliance parties in Bihar.

"The RJD will oppose the new draft at the meeting with the Delimitation Commission on January 24," Raghuvansh Prasad told rediff.com in Patna.