The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan on Saturday scrapped 12 new districts and three new divisions that the previous Congress regime had announced. The government, however, retained eight districts that had been formed during the Congress’ tenure last year.

The Congress on Saturday described the decision as short-sighted and politically vindictive.

In March 2023, the state government, then headed by the Congress’ Ashok Gehlot, had announced the formation of 19 new districts and three more divisional headquarters. The districts of Jaipur and Jodhpur had been split into two smaller ones each. This had taken the total number of districts in Rajasthan up to 50 from 33.

The Congress government had also announced three new divisions of Pali, Sikar and Banswara.

On October 6 last year, just a day before the Model Code of Conduct for the Assembly election was implemented, the previous government had created three more districts of Malpura, Sujangarh and Kuchaman, taking the total number of districts to 53.

On Saturday, the state government scrapped the districts of Anupgarh, Dudu, Gangapur City, Jaipur Rural, Jodhpur Rural, Kekri, Neem Ka Thana, Sanchore and Shahpura. It, however, decided to retain Balotra, Beawar, Deeg, Didwana-Kuchaman, Kotputli-Behror, Khairthal-Tijara, Phalodi and Salumbhar.

Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel on Saturday alleged that the previous government had not issued a notification about the creation of Malpura, Sujangarh and Kuchaman, which were announced in October last year.

With this, Rajasthan now has 41 districts and seven divisions.

Patel on Saturday alleged that the Congress government had formed the new districts and divisions only for political gains. The previous government, he alleged, did not take into account factors such as the availability of financial resources, administrative necessity, law and order and cultural harmony.

The state government had formed a Cabinet sub-committee and an expert committee under retired Indian Administrative Service officer Lalit K Panwar to examine whether creating the new districts and divisions was necessary.

Gehlot, commenting on the BJP government’s reversal of his administration’s decision, said that smaller districts were better from the point of view of administrative efficiency. “We condemn this short-sighted and politically vindictive decision taken by the BJP government,” he said.

Gehlot said his government had decided to create the new districts based on the findings of a committee headed by retired bureaucrat Ram Lubhaya. He said that before the new districts were formed, the average population of each district in Rajasthan was 35.42 lakh. The figure came down to 15.35 lakh after the new districts were created, the former chief minister said.

Gehlot said that Madhya Pradesh has 53 districts although it is smaller than Rajasthan.