Kolkata likely to lose one LS seat

KOLKATA: Kolkata may lose one Lok Sabha seat and North Bengal may gain one once the delimitation of assembly constituencies is over in West Bengal. This is because Kolkata, which has 21 Assembly constituencies, will ultimately have 10 and five more seats will be carved out in North Bengal following restructuring of constituencies on the basis of population.The average population needed for each Assembly segment is being calculated by taking into account the total population of the district and number of seats there.
While the Delimitation Commission of India has already decided on the exact number of seats to be increased or decreased in each district in West Bengal, it is yet to identify the constituencies that will be restructured.
The final identification will be done after some new MPs are inducted in the commission as the associate members representing West Bengal. This process is likely to be completed by July.
For example, Moinul Hasan, former CPM member of Parliament from Murshidabad, who lost this time will have to be replaced by a new face. Similarly, Subrata Bose, who became an associate member of the commission as a Forward Bloc MLA, will have to be replaced by one of his party colleagues in the state Assembly.
Bose has become a member Lok Sabha for the first time after winning the Barasat seat.
According to the commission''s decision, both South and North-24 Parganas will gain most in terms of an increase in number of seats. While there will be five more seats in North 24-Parganas, in South 24-Parganas, four more Assembly seats will be carved out following a sharp reduction in Kolkata seats.
Darjeeling will have six assembly seats in place of existing five, while North Dinajpur will have nine seats as against its present seven. Similarly, Assembly seats in South Dinajpur will go up from five to six. There will be three more seats in Murshidabad, two more in Nadia and one more in Malda respectively.
On the other hand, seats will be marginally reduced in Hooghly, West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, Burdwan and Birbhum. In all, nine seats reserved for scheduled caste will be created across the state. With this, the total number of reserved assembly seats will increase up to 68 from 59.
The earlier commission, which was set up in 1975 to restructure constituencies, had asked for an increase of 14 seats in the state — from 280 to 294. This time the commission, headed by Justice Kuldip Singh was not empowered by the Parliament to suggest any change in the total number.