Constituency reshuffle cheers up Surat Congress

The Surat City Congress is on cloud nine on account of the proposals of the Election Commission's delimitation committee to reconstitute the four assembly seats of Surat city, by dividing the 33 wards into nine seats.

The party believes the exercise would give it an edge over the BJP. According to official sources, the delimitation committee has proposed the inclusion of wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, in the Surat East assembly constituency.

The Congress has a strong presence in wards 1 and 2, while wards 6 and 8, which are BJP strongholds, have been excluded. The committee has proposed including wards 24, 25 and 26 "" all of which are pro-BJP "" into the Varachha seat.

The wards 27, 29 and 30, where Congress has a strong foothold, have been included in the Katargam seat. The Karanj seat would comprise wards 21, 22 and 23, which have traditionally been BJP strongholds.

The delimitation committee has proposed the inclusion of wards 17, 18, 19 and 20 in the Limbayat seat, which have a considerable Muslim population, and hence, the Congress would have better chances than the BJP of winning it.

Similarly, the Udhna seat would comprise wards 14 and 15, and some areas of wards 16, which again have a considerable Muslim population, and hence would give Congress an edge over the BJP. The Majura seat would comprise wards 11, 12 and 13, as well as some areas of ward 16. The voters of ward 12 and 13 are believed to be pro-Congress.

The Surat North seat would comprise wards 6, 7, 8, 9 10 and 28. The wards 9 and 10 are traditional Congress strongholds, while the voters in the remaining four wards are divided, which again would give the Congress an upper hand.

The Surat West seat would comprise wards 31, 32 and 33, where around 30 per cent of the voters are Muslim, and hence it would be a tough task for the BJP to retain the seat.

The Congress leadership is elated over the delimitation committee proposals, as it believes that BJP vote banks will get divided into different seats.

"We are happy with the proposals, mainly because of two reasons. First, as the number of seats would increase from four to nine, the political weightage of Surat City would go up. Secondly, the Congress stands to gain a lot from the reconstitution," Surat City Congress president Sunil Bhukhanwala said.

"We won only one seat (Surat East) in Surat in the 2002 assembly elections. But if the proposals of the delimitation committee are accepted, we could be in a position to win five or six seats in Surat in the next assembly elections," he added.

Surat City BJP president Kishore Vankawala said, "We are in the process of studying the proposals to verify where the committee has followed the Election Commission's norms regarding delimitation, and hence it would not be appropriate to make any comments at this juncture. We would be ready with our objections by May 7, and submit these before the Commission on May 11."

Experts said the BJP has reasons to be disappointed. "BJP always managed to put a good show in Surat City, on account of its strong voter base. However, if the proposals are accepted, the various wards, which are BJP strongholds, would get divided into different seats. At the same time, many wards where Congress is strong have been included in the same seat. This does not mean that the BJP would not win too many seats in Surat City, but for sure it would not be able to dominate the future elections like it did in the past," a political analyst said.