Ahead of the upcoming 2023 assembly polls, Rajasthan government has announced the creation of 19 new districts and three divisional headquarters to serve the needy who live far away from the divisional headquarters.

After the announcement of the latest initiates, the state government has faced several criticisms from the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), which alleged the real intention behind the decision by the Gehlot government is to meet ‘personal political ends.’

CM Gehlot addresses the assembly

Addressing the assembly, chief minister Ashok Gehlot said, “Rajasthan is the biggest state in the country in terms of geographical area. In some cases, the distance to the district headquarters is more than 100 km. People are unable to reach district headquarters easily and the administration, too, is unable to reach each and every family.”

Currently, Rajasthan has 33 districts. According to the officials, the new divisional headquarters are Pali, Sikar and Banswara.

In order to justify his latest decision to create new districts, he said, “If the districts are smaller, then it helps in maintaining effective law and order and better administration can be provided.”

The new districts are Anoopgarh, which was part of Ganganagar; Balotra (Barmer), Beawar (Ajmer), Kekri (Ajmer), Deeg (Bharatpur), Deedwana-Kuchaman (Nagaur), Dudu (Jaipur), Gangapur City (Sawai Madhopur), Jaipur North, Jaipur South, Jodhpur East, Jodhpur West, Kotputli-Behror (Jaipur-Alwar), Khertal (Alwar), Neem Ka Thana (Sikar), Phalodi (Jodhpur), Salumber (Udaipur), Sanchore (Jalore) and Shahpura (Bhilwara).

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BJP criticizes CM’s move

Former Chief Minister and BJP leader Vasundhara Raje said Mr Gehlot decided to carve out the new districts “to fulfil political ends”.

“The way in which new districts have been announced has put the (state) budget and economic structure at stake. Many important issues have been overlooked in announcing the new districts,” the former chief minister said.

She also added that Ashok Gehlot’s move would cause more administrative challenges rather than making it easier.

CM Gehlot has proposed a budget of Rs 2,000 crore for infrastructure development and human resources in the first phase of creating the new districts. Fifteen years ago, BJP leader Raje when she was the Chief Minister had created Pratapgarh as a district.

2023 Assembly polls

The ruling government (Congress) and the BJP have already started warming up campaigns ahead of upcoming elections. Both parties have been seen in the last months reaching out to the electorally significant Gujjar community in Rajasthan.

Gujjars, who constitute around 9 to 12 per cent of the state population and are significant in 40 to 50 assembly seats in eastern Rajasthan, are a critical vote bank for both the Congress and the BJP.