New constituencies,but same old political equations

Madhya Pradesh is among the few states where established leaders have not found any reason to lose sleep over the redrawn parliamentary constituencies......

Madhya Pradesh is among the few states where established leaders have not found any reason to lose sleep over the redrawn parliamentary constituencies. While the delimitation exercise has created Dewas,Tikamgarh and Ratlam seats,Shajapur,Seoni and Jhabua have ceased to exist. But in the states bipolar scheme of things,the changed borders dont mean changed political demographics.

Contesting her maiden Lok Sabha election from MP,senior leader Sushma Swaraj stands to benefit from the exercise. She was keen on Bhopal but had to settle for Vidisha after party veteran Kailash Joshi refused to budge from his seat. The BJP holds two of the three Assembly segments added to Vidisha,while the Bharatiya Janshakti represents one. After Uma Bharatis capitulation,Swaraj has little to worry about. On the other hand,the Congress holds just one of the three segments removed from Vidisha,once represented by Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Joshis fortunes too remain unaffected as three segments represented by the BJP in Bhopal have been replaced with three segments,also held by the party. Incidentally,Swarajs acolyte Jitendra Daga represents one of the three segments added to the former CMs constituency.

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The BJP had an impressive showing in 2004 when it won 25 of 29 seats,leaving the Congress with only four. In the four bypolls held in between,the Congress has only been able to increase its tally by one.

Two of the five Congress MPs have,however,been hit by the delimitation. Arun Yadav,who won the Khargone bypoll,has been forced to shift to Khandwa after his constituency was reserved. Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kantilal Bhuria,whose Jhabua seat does not exist any more,will now contest from Ratlam.

In Chhindwara,Congress stalwart Kamal Naths pocket borough,the change is in his favour. His party represents the reserved segment previously held by the BJP.

Union Minister of State for Communications and IT Jyotiraditya Scindia will have the recent Assembly results on his mind than anything else,though it may not be difficult for him to win given his pedigree and glamour. The BJP had won six out of the eight Assembly segments in Guna,part of his familys erstwhile kingdom. Two BJP segments have been added to his constituency and one removed.

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Scindias aunt Yashodhara Raje won from Gwalior in a bypoll in 2007. Four constituencies held by the BJP have since been removed and replaced with five constituencies,three of which are held by her party and one each by the Congress and BSP.

Sumitra Mahajan,the BJP candidate from Indore,too remains unaffected as the one BJP segment removed from her seat has been replaced by another. She in fact has a reason to cheer,since Mhow,the segment removed,is held by bete noire Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Faggan Singh Kulaste,synonymous with the vote-for-cash episode,will have to contend with a new reality. The Congress holds two of the three segments added to his seat Mandla. Another BJP MP,Ashok Argal,who also waved wads of cash in the House,finds his Morena seat dereserved. He is now contesting from Bhind.