http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Delimitation_panel_rejects_charges/articleshow/2135060.cms
Delimitation panel rejects charges 20 Jun, 2007 l 0140 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK NEW DELHI: The Delimitation Commission on Tuesday rejected allegations of "manipulation" of constituency boundaries levelled by various politicians. In a statement, the commission said, "There is total transparency in the commission's working. The commission cannot and would not permit gerrymandering which is anathema to the delimitation process." Involved in redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies, the it said, "The commission is at the fag end of its work. Almost 90 percent work has been completed. All the constituencies have been formed in accordance with the Delimitation Act and the guidelines." It said reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was done strictly in accordance with law and only those seats were reserved where the population of SC/ST was comparatively large. It explained that where there was a cluster of SC seats, an effort has been made to distribute them. However, in the process a constituency with a small SC population could not be reserved leaving the one with large SC population. Referring to reports of criticism, the commission said it had completed its work in 20 states - Goa, Puducherry, Tripura, Mizoram, Kerala, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Delhi, Gujarat, Orissa, UP, HP, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya were likely to be notified shortly, it said. The final notification was published more than a year ago. The Dausa parliamentary constituency has been reserved for ST on the basis of the tribal population in the constituency.
