The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), part of the ruling coalition in Jharkhand, has expressed apprehension about the BJP-led Centre’s attempt at reducing the ST-reserved seats in the garb of delimitation exercise next year.

JMM central general secretary cum spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya informed the media in Ranchi that after being wiped out of the ST-reserved seats in the recent Jharkhand Assembly polls and the General Elections, the BJP might try to reduce the tribal-reserved seats through delimitation exercise.

“There is a possibility of a census in 2025. After this, the delimitation will also take place. We have expressed this apprehension earlier also that the reserved seats here, for tribals and Harijans, are going to be attacked by the BJP because they do not like the tribals and Harijans of these areas,” alleged Supriyo.

He also expressed apprehension that there could be talks on reducing tribal seats during the ongoing Parliament session and warned that if there was any attempt to decrease the number of reserved seats it would not be right and would lead to protests in the tribal states.

India is likely to commence its much-awaited population census early next year. A lot hinges on the outcomes of this exercise, most critically the delimitation of India’s electoral constituencies.

Delimitation is the process of drawing the boundaries of electoral constituencies in a country which determines two things: voter eligibility by location and the apportionment of parliamentary seats for each state. The outcome of delimitation has important implications for representative democracy in India.

In the parliamentary polls, the BJP failed to win any of the five ST reserved seats while in the just concluded Assembly polls it could win only one seat (Seraikela by virtue of former chief minister Champai Soren who defected from the JMM to the BJP prior to polls) out of the 28 ST-reserved seats.

The JMM senior leader who is considered close to chief minister Hemant Soren said that whenever they have expressed any apprehension, it has proved to be correct.

“We understand their Manuwadi thinking and whenever we have expressed apprehension it has come out to be true. After tasting defeats in elections, they might attempt to reduce the reserved seats. The BJP knows that unless they create a rift between the natives and the tribals, in the name of religion, their conspiracy is not going to succeed,” claimed Supriyo.

The JMM leader also claimed that the BJP is unable to digest the massive mandate in favour of the ruling coalition.

He said that the hateful language coming out of the mouths of the BJP leaders even after the results is worrying.

He alleges that the BJP has been wiped out in the areas where they had tried to spread communalism.