WIN SOME, LOSE SOME: Out goes Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's familiar old Gole Market constituency from Delhi's electoral map.

NEW DELHI: This is one report that will not only change political equations in the Capital but also have a direct bearing on the future of many political bigwigs across the city. The just-ready report of the Delimitation Commission for the Capital proposes sweeping changes in the profile of all seven Lok Sabha constituencies and the 70 Delhi Assembly constituencies, changing the names of some of the Parliamentary and Assembly seats and reducing the number of reserved constituencies from 14 to 12.

The familiar old Gole Market constituency of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit would be done away with and instead a new New Delhi Assembly seat would be created in its place. Similarly the Ghonda Assembly seat in East Delhi would be abolished. Three Lok Sabha constituencies - Delhi Sadar, Karol Bagh and Outer Delhi - have been removed from the electoral map of the Capital in the new Delimitation Commission report that is likely to be notified any time this week.

According to highly placed sources, Delhi under the new delimitation regime would continue to have seven Lok Sabha seats. But, unlike in the past, each of them would comprise 10 Assembly seats now. The names of the new Lok Sabha seats would be Chandni Chowk, North-East Delhi, East Delhi, New Delhi, North-West Delhi, West Delhi and South Delhi.

The report was approved at a meeting held at the residence of the Delimitation Commission Chairman, Justice Kuldeep Singh, this past weekend.

The New Delhi, Chandni Chowk and South Delhi Lok Sabha constituencies would undergo a complete geographical and character change. Until now the Karol Bagh Parliamentary seat fell under the reserved category, but under the new regime the North-West Delhi seat would be the reserved one. Interestingly, the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat, the smallest of the constituencies so far, will now extend further up to Adarsh Nagar, Wazirpur, Model Town and Trinagar.

The sprawling East Delhi Parliamentary constituency would be divided into two seats -- East Delhi and North-East Delhi. In East Delhi, eight Assembly segments on the southern side of the trans-Yamuna area would be included along with Nizamuddin and Okhla. The North-East Delhi seat would have eight Assembly segments from the northern parts of the trans-Yamuna area apart from Burari and Timarpur.

The three sitting Members of Parliament -- Krishna Tirath, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler -- would have to scout for new seats to contest the next Lok Sabha elections whenever they are held. Similarly the New Delhi Parliamentary seat would now have areas carved out from Karol Bagh and South Delhi.

Chief Minister's Sheila Dikshit's Gole Market seat will now be known as New Delhi Assembly constituency and will include major areas of Sarojini Nagar. Interestingly, the Chanakyapuri area has been deleted from the Gole Market Assembly segment and transferred to Delhi Cantonment.

In another interesting development, the number of reserved Delhi Assembly constituencies has been reduced from 14 to 12, a cause for concern for the ruling Congress that won a majority of the reserved seats during the 1998 and 2003 Assembly elections.

According to the Delimitation Commission report, each of the Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi now will have an average of 19.78 lakh voters and the Assembly constituencies an average of 1.97 lakh voters. The Badarpur constituency will have the highest number of voters.

The report will be submitted to the Union Government for further action including issuing of a notification that will set the stage for holding the next Delhi Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in accordance with the redrawn electoral map.

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