West Bengal passes delimitation laws for Kolkata, Howrah
The Bengal Assembly, through a special one-day session on Wednesday, passed two civic delimitation amendment bills aimed at delimiting the civic areas under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation.
The first bill is the Howrah Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the second one is the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
Following the gubernatorial assent, the number of wards under Kolkata Municipal Corporation would go up from 144 to 209, whereas the number of civic wards in Howrah would go up to 68 from the existing 50. Apart from this, the Bally municipal area would be separated from Howrah Corporation.
The on-ground delimitation exercise would be taken up by the State Election Commission in cooperation with the Kolkata district administrative authorities, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said, referring to a question raised by senior opposition MLA and former Mayor Firhad Hakim.
“It seems that the honourable member is ill-informed about the delimitation exercise… presently only the numbers of the two municipal corporations have been fixed, whereas actual delimitation exercise will take place subsequently… The State Election Commission will mark the boundaries of the wards… based on the number of voters, population and other details,” the Chief Minister said, referring to Hakim’s apprehensions of a “politically motivated delimitation” targeting certain specific wards or communities.
Hakim, however, said that he was not opposed to the delimitation of the wards in principle “but it should be made clear on what policy or criteria the entire process is being carried out.”
The Chief Minister said that apart from the SEC, the Land and Land Reforms Department and officials responsible for the administration of Kolkata district would be involved in the process before a draft notification was issued. Following notifications, the citizens would be given at least seven days — extendable to 15 days — to file objections and representations against the draft.
He also said the State Election Commission would convene two all-party meetings during the process — one before publication of the first draft and another before the final notification.
Referring to the “much needed delimitation” exercise, Bengal Urban Development Minister Agnimitra Paul said that the amendment law was long required “for the development and delivery of civic amenities to the citizens… it will further streamline the development of the civic wards with better services, facilities and monitoring.”
Presently, both the KMC and HMC boards were non-functional — and were being governed via administrators — following the dissolution of the respective houses in the wake of resignations submitted by the Mayors. The next elections to the civic boards are expected by the year-end.
