Vellore in dire need of delimitation, say officials

The venue, Edayansathu village which falls in ArcotAssembly segment, but is still part of Vellore town, turned the focus on the urgent need for delimitation exercise as Vellore town is shared by Katpadi, Arcot and Anaicut constituencies though the latter three are 8 km, 25 km and 20 km from Vellore town respectively.

Of the 60 wards in Vellore Corporation, only 36 wards are in Vellore Assembly segment, while one comes under Arcot constituency, 6 fall under Anaicut constituency and 16 are within the KatpadiAssembly constituency limits. Officials accepted that a proper delimitation exercise had to be undertaken before the next Assembly elections if justice was to be done to Vellore residents. Officials cited the example of Chenganatham atop the Sathuvachari hills which is in ArcotAssembly constituency limits, though Arcot is 18 km from the location while Vellore is only 5 km away on the Chennai National Highway.

By a quirk of fate, residents of the railway quarters located in Katpadi constituency vote in the Vellore Assembly segment while Shenbakkam, which is part of Vellore town and located on the Bengaluru National Highway on the other side of the Palar river falls within the limits of the KatpadiAssembly constituency. Similarly, the Gudiyattam railway station is within KatpadiAssembly segment’s limits though it is nearly 25 km from Vellore town with the KV KuppamAssembly constituency coming in between the Katpadi and GudiyattamAssembly constituencies.