LS seats delimitation will hurt federal structure, claims Singhvi

Mysuru: AICC Spokesperson and senior Supreme Court Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the Central Government’s move on delimitation of Lok Sabha Constituencies poses a threat to the federal structure of our country.

Addressing a press meet at Congress Bhavan near the city Railway Station here yesterday, Singhvi, who is also a Rajya Sabha Congress  MP alleged that the Centre was only telling half truth on the delimitation exercise. Alleging that the Centre has not called a meeting of Opposition parties to discuss delimitation, he expressed apprehension about  PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claims that the number of seats in Southern States would not be lessened post delimitation. Noting that the Centre has not said anything about the possible increase in the number of seats in Northern States, he stressed on the need for the Centre to take all the Opposition parties into confidence before going ahead with the delimitation exercise.

Maintaining that the Congress has no objection on use of EVMs in elections, Singhvi, said that some confusions still persist regarding the election process. Urging the Election Commission to hike the EVM votes tallying percentage from 25 to 33, he said that it is unfortunate that following a Supreme Court Order, the Centre and the Election Commission of India is tallying only 5 percent of the votes polled. Such developments are a blow to the Democratic system, he argued.

Tender reservation Constitutional

Reacting to the State Government’s decision of 4 percent reservation for minority communities in Government tenders up to Rs.1 crore, Singhvi maintained that the Government’s decision on reservation to Muslims, SC/STs and OBCs in Government contracts is Constitutional. The reservation has been announced keeping in mind the upliftment of OBCs and not based on religious grounds, he asserted.

Taking a dig at the Opposition BJP, Singhvi lambasted the efforts of the Opposition BJP and JD(S) to tarnish the image of CM Siddaramaiah by falsely implicating him in the MUDA alternative sites allotment scam.

Pointing out that the Lokayukta probe into the alleged scam has given a clean chit to the CM and his wife, he said that he can only argue in Courts on behalf of his clients and comment on the Court’s ruling. However, he cannot say anything on the return of 14 sites by CM’s wife Parvathi to MUDA after the scam broke out, he added.

Commenting on speculations doing the rounds on power sharing in the State, Singhvi said that these speculations are media created. Asserting that the change of leadership in the State is not being discussed at the party level, he reiterated that power sharing formula is only a creation of the media.

City Congress President R. Murthy, District Congress President Dr. B.J. Vijaykumar, former MLA M.K. Somashekar, party leaders and others were present.