BHUBANESWAR: While political parties are trying their best to woo the tribals ahead of the general elections, the delimitation exercise has affected their chances in two northern districts of the State by reducing the number of seats reserved for them.
Out of the 16 Assembly seats in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts, 13 were reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates. However, after the redrawing of boundaries, 10 seats are reserved for the STs out of 15 seats.
Before delimitation, out of the 10 Assembly seats in Mayurbhanj district, nine were reserved for the STs except Baripada which was a general seat.
The number of constituencies has come down to nine in Mayurbhanj district and out of this, seven are reserved for the STs. Khunta, Baisinga, Kuliana and Bahalda seats, all reserved for STs, have been abolished. Baripada seat has been reserved for STs.
New constituency Saraskana will be a reserved seat. For the first time, a newly carved out Badasahi seat will be reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Morada will be a general seat.
While the number of seats in Keonjhar district will remain at six, seats for the STs have decreased from four to three. Newly carved out Ghasipura will be a general seat, while Champua, which was reserved for STs, has been dereserved.
Ramchandrapur represented by Niranjan Patnaik in the Assembly has been abolished.
The number of seats in Balasore increased to eight from seven after the delimitation. The constituencies in Balasore district after redrawing are, Jaleswar, Bhograi, Basta, Balasore, Remuna (SC), Nilgiri, Soro (SC) and Simulia.