New boundaries: Delhi municipal election to be a test for parties

150 of the 272 wards expected to have new geographical limits.

The municipal election scheduled for April next year is going to be a testing time for all political outfits as they will have to devise new strategies to contest in each ward in the April 2017 municipal elections.

About 150 of the 272 municipal wards in the capital are expected to have new geographical boundaries for municipal elections scheduled for April next year.

The state election commission, entrusted with the job of the delimitation exercise, has prepared a draft report on the same and has invited objections and suggestions from political parties, aspiring municipal poll candidates and the public latest by September 24.

This time, the new war-ds are being carved out on the basis of a population size of about 60,000 people as per the 2011 Census.

“Since the nomenclature of a large number of wards is bound to change, we will have to chose candidates according to new caste and religious formations in each ward,” a local politician told this newspaper. “It will be a daunting task for all the political parties to study new caste and colour combinations in each of the 272 new wards.”

The commission carried out the exercise on the directions of lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung, who was entrusted by the Centre to demarcate new wards as per the provisions of Sections 3 and 5 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957.

The last delimitation of the MCD wards, carried out in 2007, was based on the 2001 Census. Later, the 136 wards were increased to 272 after trifurcation of the municipal corporation in 2012.

In the last delimitation exercise, the population size of each ward was about 40,000 and the state election commission had created four wards in each of the 70 Assembly seats of Delhi.

The draft report suggests that the number of wards in each of the Ass-embly segments is bound to vary from two to seven in Delhi. For instance, the Matiala Assembly seat that has a population of 4,26,760 can now boast of having a maximum of seven municipal wards, and Jangpura constituency, having a population of 1,50,049, can end up having just three wards.

There are about two dozen Assembly segme-nts, which will end up ha-ving four municipal war-ds in their jurisdiction. In SDMC, both Vikaspuri and Matiala Assembly constituencies are likely to have seven wards each. While the Ba-darpur seat may have six wards, Okhla constituency is set to have five wards.

Among the constituencies that are likely to have three wards are Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, Tri Nagar, Jangpura, Kastu-rba Nagar, Malviya Na-gar, R.K. Puram, Mehrau-li, Ambedkar Nagar, Greater Kailash, Kalkaji and Tuglakabad.

In the North Municipal Corporation, the report suggests that Burari and Bawana constituencies are likely to have six wards each, Narela, Rithala, Mundka and Kirari will have five wards each and Adarsh Nagar, Tri Nagar, Wazirpur, Model Town, Chandni Chowk, Ballimaran, Karol Bagh (SC), Moti Nagar and Rajinder Nagar may end up having three wards each in their jurisdiction.

In the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Gokalpur (SC), Mustafabad and Karawal Nagar Assembly segments are likely to have five wards each while Gandhi Nagar may end up with having only three wards. The nomenclature of the remaining wards is not going to change.

The boundaries of the municipal wards are being demarcated in accordance with railway lines, Delhi Metro network, roads, rivers and major drains. But this time the commission will ensure that the villages falling under Lal Dora are not demarcated as per the small roads which divide them.