Chandigarh, November 16
The Delimitation Commission, which met in Delhi today, has deferred its work in Haryana till after the Assembly elections, due in February next.

The chairman of the commission, Justice Kuldip Singh, a former Judge of the Supreme Court, also declared the working paper prepared by the commission’s secretariat as “null and void”, much to the relief of Haryana politicians.

The working paper had caused great consternation among the politicians in the state as it envisaged the reconstitution of several Assembly and parliamentary constituencies. The paper also proposed reservation of several of those Assembly constituencies from where prominent leaders, particularly of the Opposition, contest.

There was a feeling among the affected politicians that the controversial paper contained proposals which suited only the three “Lals”, who dominate Haryana politics and adversely affected the others.

According to informed sources, at the outset an Election Commissioner of India, Mr B.B. Tandon, said since the next Assembly elections were not to be held on the basis of the report of the Delimitation Commission, any exercise in this regard at this stage would only create confusion. The state election machinery, instead of concentrating on ensuring a free and fair poll, would have to spend lot of time in removing the confusion. A former Haryana Congress president and Congress MP from Rohtak, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, submitted a one-page protest note to the commission. The note was signed, besides Mr Hooda, by Mr Avtar Singh Badhana (Faridabad), Mr Jai Prakash (Hisar), Dr Arvind Sharma (Karnal), Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, BJP MP from Sonepat and Mr O.P. Jindal, Congress MLA from Hisar.

The commission’s attention was drawn to the fact that the term of the MLA associate members was only for a few months. The Speaker of the Haryana Assembly would have to renominate the associate members from among the MLAs after the Assembly elections. Therefore, the delimitation work should be deferred till the Assembly poll as was done in case of Himachal Pradesh.

The sources say the protest note said suggestions were not invited from the associate members before the commission prepared the working paper. The associate members were also not provided with complete data. Moreover, Those members who were associated with the delimitation work after the last Lok Sabha elections were not supplied with the complete set of guidelines as was done in the case of earlier associate members.

The note also pointed out that according to the guidelines, the delimitation of constituency should have started from the north of the state, going towards north-east and then to the south.

However, those who prepared the working paper adopted a haphazard approach, which could lead to a chaos.

Mr Hooda said since the constituencies would not be delimited before 2035, the commission must keep in mind the social and cultural affinity of voters of particular constituency. He said the working paper had divided several kanungo circles in more than one constituencies, while as far as possible a kanungo circle should have been kept in one Assembly constituency.

He also objected to the proposal about abolishing the Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency by merging it with the other constituencies. He said Rohtak had always held a central place in Haryana’s politics and culture.

The commission was supposed to balance various constituencies in terms of population.