Delimitation report awaits Lieutenant-Governor approval

New Delhi: Only 31 of the 70 Assembly seats will reportedly have four municipal wards under their respective geographical boundaries as the remaining 148 municipal wards are likely to have new peripheries in the national capital. A report prepared on the delimitation of the 272 municipal wards by the Delhi State Election Commission, which is awaiting lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung’s nod, is said to have incorporated 10 per cent of the 650-odd objections and suggestions from general public, political parties, and other stake holders. The State Election Commission had recently sent its delimitation report to chief secretary K.K. Sharma, who in turn had forwarded it to Raj Niwas.

Once new wards are notified, all the political parties will chalk out their strategies for the municipal elections scheduled for April next year. The delimitation drive will see political parties selecting their candidates on the basis of population of voters belonging to different castes and communities. For instance, if a chunk of voters of a Bengali dominated ward become part of another ward dominated by Punjabi community, the political parties will have to be extra careful to choose their candidates from the two communities. While AAP is likely to be a major player in the municipal elections, both the BJP and the Congress will have to redraw their strategies to ensure their candidates are from those communities and castes which dominate the particular wards.   

In September, the State Election Commission had sought suggestions and objections from political parties, aspiring candidates and general public on its draft of the delimitation report of municipal wards. The report had proposed changes in the boundaries of about 150 wards. The report had proposed that each ward be carved out on the basis of the population size of 60,142 people in North Delhi Municipal Corporation, 59,750 people in South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and 61,716 people in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. In 2007, each of the existing 272 municipal wards had been carved out on the basis of the population size of 40,000 people.

In the NDMC area, each of the 10 Assembly constituencies will have four wards, nine seats will have three wards, two will have six wards and five others will have as many as five wards. That means both Burari and Bawana Assembly seats will have six wards under their respective jurisdiction.

As far as the SDMC area is concerned, only seven Assembly seats will have four wards under their jurisdiction. Matiala and Vikaspuri Assembly seats will have seven and six wards respectively.