Delhi Congress president Ch Anil Kumar said the delimitation of wards should be done in a scientific, transparent manner by taking into account the ground reality, for the larger interest of Delhiites. Kumar said the three-member commission should discuss its terms of reference with all the political parties and take them into confidence before beginning the delimitation exercise.
The Delhi Congress president said the party disagrees with the unification of the three MCDs and the delimitation process, but it was in favour of holding the MCD elections without any further delay so that people can get their works done through their elected representatives, and not by puppet officials of the BJP. “The BJP and the AAP want to delay the elections so that they can divert people’s attention from many problems, including the failures of both these parties to address pressing issues,” alleged Kumar.
He said that subsequent to the unification of all the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi, the existing number of 272 wards will be reduced to 250, and this process will be carried out on the basis of the population of Delhi that existed in 2011, which would be illogical.
He said that according to the old population census, Delhi’s population was pegged at 1.67 crore, but the present population of Delhi has swelled to nearly 3 crore, therefore delimitation exercise based on old population will be totally unscientific. “In past 10 years, new colonies have come up, and Delhi’s population has almost doubled,” Kumar added.