Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Combat in compact constituencies

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The coming Lok Sabha elections will have the distinction of being fought in geographically compact constituencies named after the district they represent. As many as 11 grama panchayats which remain spread over two districts have also been brought within the purview of an Assembly segment.

The inter-district overlapping of local self-government institutions is mainly in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kollam districts where new segments have been formed. Athirapilly and Puthenvelikkara panchayats remain spread over Ernakulam and Thrissur. Athirapilly has become part of Chalakudy and Puthenvelikkara has been included in the Ernakulam Lok Sabha segment.

Kumaramangalam, Kanjikuzhi, Manjalloor, Kalloorkkad and Paingottur panchayats are lying spread over Ernakulam and Idukki districts. All these five panchayats have now been integrated with the Idukki Lok Sabha segment.

Neelamperoor panchayat which forms part of Kottayam and Alappuzha districts figures in the Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency. Nedumpuram and Kulanada panchayat which extend over Pathanmthitta and Alappuzha districts as well as Kalanjoor panchayat which spreads over Pathanmthitta and Kollam districts have become part of the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency. The Delimitation Commission headed by Kuldip Singh had taken grama panchayat as the basic unit and Assembly segment as the secondary unit for redrawing the contours of the new constituency. This has helped the commission to create Lok Sabha constituencies by staying within the geographical limits.

The commission ensured that the primary units were not bifurcated in the course of carving out new segments. Earlier, more than 100 panchayats were remaining spread over more than one district and the constituencies were not geographically compact.

But the commission could not stick to its decision to retain the basic unit undisturbed in the case of Alappuzha municipality.

The first 19 wards of the municipality have been included in the Alappuzha Assembly constituency and wards 20 to 44 in the Ambalappuzha Assembly segment.

It will be easy for the elected representatives to take up development initiatives in the geographically compact units.

It is being pointed out that complaints of discrepancies in expending funds, neglect of far-flung and remote areas dominated by tribals in different districts within the same constituency can be avoided through the creation of new constituencies.

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