Congress MLA Laxman Savadi has welcomed the proposed delimitation of Assembly and Parliament constituencies saying that it will help reduce the distance between leaders and voters and improve governance.

Maintaining regular conversation with voters is a difficult task for elected representatives, especially Lok Sabha members, as the constituencies are very large, he said.

Reducing their area through delimitation is a good idea. It will facilitate better interaction between leaders and voters, help the elected representatives get good feedback about their work and improve administration, he told reporters in Chikkodi on Thursday.

“We are being told that each Assembly seat will have two lakh voters and each Lok Sabha seat will have eight Assembly seats, with a total of 16 lakh voters. A final picture will emerge after a few months,” he said.

To a query on Congress leaders like K.C. Venugopal opposing the Union government’s plan on delimitation saying it will affect the interests of South India, Mr. Savadi said that the Centre is collecting the opinion of all States and hoped that it will soon come up with a strategy acceptable to all.

“Opposition is natural in a democracy. However, the women’s reservation Bill has been passed already. I am sure that the opinion of the States will get the due support during the implementation of delimitation and reservation,” the former Deputy Chief Minister said.

“Of course, delimitation of constituencies in a vast country like India is a big challenge. The issue of women’s reservation is entangled with delimitation. Union Ministers are saying women will get 33% reservation with the increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats. On the face of it, it seems to be a good development,” he said.