Sukhu's New Districts Gamble Before 2027 Assembly Polls, Who Will Gain?

Last week, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced setting up a commission, headed by a retired High Court judge, to study the creation of new districts and redraw boundaries of field administrative units in the state, where mountain terrain and long distances have posed a challenge in effective governance.

However, this move has triggered a long-standing debate in Himachal Pradesh about the timing of such changes ahead of next year's assembly elections and the ongoing population census.

The central question, however, is whether the Chief Minister’s interest in the creation of new districts is primarily driven by genuine public necessities of a large hill population living in remote and landlocked areas or to cash in on political dividends during the upcoming electoral cycle in the state known for alternating power between the Congress and BJP after every five years.

The opposition BJP’s first response was, thus, not quite surprising. The party has dismissed the process as a “political gimmick” and raised questions about whether the state could afford such a comprehensive exercise in the backdrop of the huge debt burden exceeding Rs 1.20 lakh crores and development starved with a shortage of funds.

But for Himachal Pradesh—a state where demand for new districts has frequently been raised but most previous governments pushed under wraps, the issue deserved a closer look. Long distances, difficult terrain, scattered settlements, and climate-induced miseries and disasters have made the situation even more challenging. There are also issues involving disruption of road communications, weather-related challenges, and deficient medical care.  

Of late, the drug problem in Himachal Pradesh has invaded the rural and remote valleys, the areas where locals traditionally relied on limited livelihood means. This requires quicker and tougher enforcement measures to curb the crime linked to drug trafficking and substance abuse among youths.

“This too required administrative infrastructure and police establishments” admits an additional SP-rank officer posted in Kangra.

By setting up a commission headed by Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary, a retired High Court judge, the Chief Minister has opened a fresh window for reworking districts’ new boundaries after almost 54 years. The commission has been given six months to explore possibilities of new districts, sub-divisions, tehsils and sub-tehsils, keeping in view state geographical realities.

The timing, of course, is important, and Sukhu’s astute political instinct can’t be overlooked, as whatever it is, opponents, both in the party and opposition, will say. Next year, when he leads the party to the polls, Sukhu will not only want to divert public attention from issues like poll guarantees and failures but also offer a new olive branch—the new districts. 

“Nevertheless, the political outcome of this initiative will depend on whether the exercise translates into concrete decisions or remains an announcement," says Umesh Thakur, a retired revenue officer at Kullu.

The last exercise on new districts happened in 1972, a year after Himachal Pradesh had become a full-fledged state on January 25, 1971. The state government, under Dr Y S. Parmar—known as “ Himachal Nirmata” ordered administrative restructuring to carve out three new districts, viz. Hamirpur and Una, trifurcating the erstwhile Kangra district and forming districts of Shimla (earlier called Mahasu) and Solan as new districts. The number of districts rose to 12.

Kangra remains Himachal Pradesh’s largest district and a major political power centre, with 15 Assembly constituencies. There is a popular saying in state politics that the road to power in Shimla runs through Kangra. The reasoning is simple: with the district accounting for the largest bloc of Assembly seats, the party that performs well here gains a significant advantage in the race to form the government.

Now, in the current exercise, the axe is certain to fall on Kangra to cut down its power and trifurcate Kangra to three possible districts—Palampur, Nurpur and Dehra. Dehra is represented in the assembly by Chief Minister’s wife Kamlesh Kumari, and the focus of major development is on Dehra. Along with this, Nurpur is also a police district already. Palampur—known for its tea gardens, presence of the Indian Army, and educational institutions, including the state’s lone agriculture minister is a Congress stronghold.

Mandi, the second biggest district with 10 assembly constituencies, will get dissected to form Sunder Nagar, a new district, while Shimla, where stalwarts like Virbhadra Singh, Thakur Ram Lal, Vidya Stokes, and J B L Khachi dominated the politics for decades, is also seen as a district requiring restructuring with Rampur—the hometown of Virbhadra Singh or Rohru as options.

The chief minister has defended the move, terming it another example of “Vyavastha Parivartan”. It is meant to take the administration closer to the people. The BJP is completely wrong to see the move through "electoral lenses."

Former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, who is also Leader of the Opposition, has accused the Congress government of raising the issue to divert attention from unfulfilled election guarantees and the discontinuation of welfare schemes introduced by the previous BJP government.

“If new districts were genuinely needed, the exercise should have begun at the start of Sukhu’s tenure, rather than so close to the polls. Furthermore, when the census-related process is already underway, how is it possible to carve out boundaries for new districts? Sukhu is trying to befool the public."

Meanwhile, the state’s Governor Kavinder Gupta has claimed that if the state government has chosen to create new districts and sub-divisions, the move may be well-intended. To me, smaller administrative units are always beneficial to the public, particularly in a mountain state like Himachal Pradesh.

Earlier, during the tenure of Prem Kumar Dhumal, who headed the BJP government in 1998-2003 and later 2007-2012, demand for new districts was raised. Instead of creating new districts, he chose to upgrade the administrative setup at Nurpur in Kangra and a few other sub-divisions. 

Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was, however, opposed to the creation of new districts and rather preferred to upgrade institutions and existing administrative posts. He claimed that new districts would entail heavy administrative expenditures, which the small state with limited resources can’t afford. His government expanded subdivisions and tehsils instead of creating new revenue districts.

Demand for new districts was also raised when Jairam Thakur became Chief Minister in 2017. Nurpur, Dehra and Palampur in Kangra; Sundernagar in Mandi; and Mahasu in Shimla were among the proposed districts under debate. Yet opposition from within the party, mainly veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar—once a strongman of Kangra compelled the government to drop the idea.

Much will depend on the commission's final recommendations, but Sukhu seems to have already done his arithmetic calculations well in advance. The critics, however, would like to watch to see whether the move wins public support once the countdown on polls begins.

Academician Professor Anupama Singh finds the move contradictory. “On the one hand, the Chief Minister is talking about pruning the bureaucracy, reducing the cadre strength of IAS, IPS and IFS officers, and cutting administrative costs. On the other hand, he wants to create new districts and subdivisions, which would inevitably entail additional administrative expenditure,” she says.