The Hindu : Kerala News : Final list of constituencies by mid-May

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Final list of constituencies by mid-May

By N.J. Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 2. The final list of the delimited Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in the State will be published by mid-May.

The Delimitation Commission is reported to have decided to expedite the process. The Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, had on March 16 written to the Commission seeking the postponement of the sittings scheduled in Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram on April 23, 25 and 26. The Commission has scheduled the sittings to elicit public response on the draft list that has already been published.

The Commission headed by the former Supreme Court judge Kuldip Singh consists of the Central Election Commissioner, B.B. Tandon, and the State Election Commissioner, N. Mohandas. Five MPs and MLAs are associate members of the Commission.

Mr. Chandy has sought the postponement on grounds that MLAs will be attending a training camp and members of local bodies institutions will be busy with drought relief activities during the three days.

Earlier, the Commission was planning to seek the views of leaders of political parties and people's representatives to prepare the final list after completing the sittings. Now, it has been decided to hold a meeting of the associate members on April 26 evening and publish the final list without giving scope for much discussions, sources said.

The Commission is aware of the raging group differences in the Congress. It is learnt that Mr. Singh has taken the Chief Minister's letter as an attempt to intervene with its functioning. Mr. Singh is reported to have taken the view that the delimitation process should not be used as a means for settling the differences in the party. The Commission is not convinced of the reasons cited by Mr. Chandy to defer the sittings, sources said.

Once the final list is published in the Union and State gazettes, it will have the force of law and cannot be questioned in court. After publishing the list, it will be tabled in Parliament and Assemblies, but there will not be any discussions in the House. Any election after its publication can be held only as per the new list.

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