The boundary of 272 municipal wards of three civic bodies is going to be redefined in the national Capital. The State Election Commission headed by former Chief Secretary of Delhi, Rakesh Mehta, has set in motion the process for redefining the boundaries for holding municipal elections in 2017.
Mehta has written to the lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung seeking his nod to initiate the process of redefining the boundaries of municipal wards, which was mandatory after every 10 years. The State Election Commission has also sought funds to the tune of Rs30 lakh to carry out the delimitation process. Currently, there are 272 municipal wards of three municipal bodies in the national Capital. There were only 100 wards in Delhi way back in 1991.
Talking to The Pioneer, State Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta said that the commission has sought permission from lieutenant Governor to start the process of delimitation of boundaries of municipal wards.
The Commission will follow the 2011 census data to finalise the boundaries. He has obtained maps (GIS mapping) of all municipal wards. When asked whether the boundaries of some wards may be changed, Mehta said that it is possible because population of some wards have been increased two-fold while some areas such as Kashmere Gate has decreased in the last
few years.
As per 2011 census data, the population Kashmere Gate is just 15,288 that is lowest while Hastal municipal ward has total population of 1,45,715. Similarly, Holambi Kalan in North-West has a population of 42,392 while Saadatpur Musalman has
only 11,019.
There are wards where the population has nearly doubled. Among the wards where the population has increased manifold are Mukundpur, Burari, Bhalswa, Pooth Kalan, Bawana, Mundaka, Pratap Vihar, Kirari Suleman Nagar, Nangloi East, Hastsal, Mohan Garden, Nangli Sakravati, Karkaula, Matiala, Kapashera, Jaitpur and Madanpur Khadar. The boundaries of these wards are likely to be reduced.
Among the wards whose population has gone down are Bhalaswa Jehangirpuri, GTB Nagar, Sarai Pipal Thala, Peeragarhi, Pitampura South, Shalimar Bagh South, Saraswati Vihar, Nimri Colony, Wazirpur, Kamla Nagar, Model Town, Deputy Ganj, Kashmere Gate, Chandni Chowk, Minto Road, Bazar Sita Ram, Ballimaran, Ram Nagar, Paharganj, Madel Basti,
Karol Bagh, Dev Nagar, Baljit Nagar, Mansarovar Garden, Karampura, Rajouri Garden, Tagore Garden, Nangal Raya, Janakpuri South, Pusa, Inderpuri, Daryaganj, Nizamuddin, lajpat Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Amar Colony, Malviya Nagar, Hauz Khas, Greater Kailash-I and Babarpur. The boundaries of these wards are likely to be increased.
The delimitation of the municipal wards will be done after lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung sets up a commission to do the mammoth exercise. Sources said that the Raj Niwas was in the process of appointing the delimitation committee which may include a municipal secretary as its member and five legislators and five corporators as its associate members.
The Delimitation Commission will take a fresh look at all the municipal wards and demarcate their boundaries with the new population figures in mind. Some wards would be merged with others while new wards would be created on the basis new population figures.
Presently, one Assembly constituency comprises of four municipal wards. After the delimitation, number of wards in several assemblies may be increased while in some constituencies number of wards may be reduced. It is likely that the municipal seats of a large number of councillors will be changed for the 2017 MCD polls forcing a number of them to look for new constituencies to contest polls.
“The redefining of boundaries of 272 municipal wards will take at least one-and-a-half-years. Once the wards have been divided, the Government will notify the new wards and invite public opinion. We need to finish before the MCD elections in March 2017,” Mehta said.
The last delimitation of 136 municipal wards was carried out in 2007. That was based on the 2001 census data. The 136 municipal wards were increased to 272 after trifurcation of municipal body in 2012. Presently, three civic bodies are being ruled by the BJP.