Members of Parliament from Jharkhand has handed over a memorandum to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, requesting him to take initiative in increasing the number of Assembly seats in Jharkhand from 82 to 150. Singh assured that he would try to do his best in this regard.
“The Home Minister not only heard us patiently but also assured us that he will try his best that the number of Assembly seats in the State gets increased to 150,” said Ranchi MP Ram Tahal Chaudhary. A letter has also been handed over to him requesting to increase the number of seats from 82 to 150, he added.
The letter stated that all the political parties in the State were in the favour of increasing the number of seats to 150 so that the State Government developmental projects could reach out efficiently to the people living deep inside the distant villages of the State.
It further stated that Jharkhand was geographically a scattered state but is less densely populated. Most of the part of the state is also scattered towards hilly and jungle areas due to which the Assembly seats are more scattered covering a larger area. It also creates hurdle for a public representative to control the vast area from administrative and developmental point of view.
“We told him that although Assembly seats in the state created along with Jharkhand in the year 2000 have already been increased but nothing was done here in Jharkhand in this regard,” said Chaudhary. There has been political instability in the state since it has been carved out from Bihar in the year 2000, they told the Union Home Minister.
In addition to that, there are cultural differences in the state which is scattered in a very larger area and the population of Jharkhand has reached up to the 3.5 crore which also lacks balance of political representation.
Handing the memorandum to Singh at his office in New Delhi, the legislators also reminded the Home Minister of his announcement in this regard in on December 29, 2013 in Ranchi where he said that the number of Assembly seats would be increased to 150 if BJP government comes to power at the centre.
MPs who called in Rajnath were Ravindra Rai, P N Singh, V D Ram, Sunil Kumar Singh, laxman Gilua, Vidyut Baran Mahato and Vijaya Hansda. The memorandum was also signed by Congress MP Pradip Kumar Balmachu and JMM MP Vijay Hansda.