Ad hoc panel for ward delimitation likely to be notified today

An ad hoc committee for the delimitation of municipal wards for the MCG elections--which may be held in October this year-- is likely to be notified by the state government on Monday. The committee will have representatives from the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), Haryana Urban Local Bodies (ULB), mayor Madhu Azad, and deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav who is expected to head the committee.

Officials from the civic body said the municipality’s joint commissioner Satish Yadav will be the representative from the MCG.

“We are expecting the ad hoc committee to be notified on Monday. Once this is done, a meeting will be convened to finalise the draft for the ward delimitation. The draft will then be sent to the state government for final approval,” said Nishant Kumar Yadav.

Elaborating on the delimitation process, civic officials said the ad-hoc committee will redraw the boundaries of each municipal ward. Once the draft of the delimitation of municipal wards is sent to the state government, the government will notify the newly constituted wards--provided they have no objections---, which is likely to be done by September, said officials.

Due to the increase in the city’s population and MCG’s own jurisdiction area, the total number of municipal wards under MCG has increased from 35 to 40.

The term of the current batch of 35 councillors will end on November 2 and the MCG elections are expected to be held in October.

Of the 40 seats, seven have been reserved for candidates from scheduled caste. Of the 14 seats reserved for women candidates, three are for scheduled castes. All the reserved wards will be decided randomly through a draw of lots, said officials.

According to MCG’s survey, the city’s population under the municipal area has increased from one million in 2017 to 1.2 million this year. According to the Haryana Municipal Corporation Delimitation of Ward Rules, 1994, municipal areas with a population between 1 million and 1.2 million should have 35 wards while a population between 1.2 million to 1.5 million merits 40 municipal wards.

A major reason for the increase in population is also due to MCG’s jurisdiction expansion. In December 2020, 16 villages and urban areas around Dwarka Expressway and the Golf Course Extension Road came under MCG’s ambit.

The district administration is also simultaneously working towards conducting elections for the Municipal Corporation of Manesar (MCM) for the first time. The total population in MCM’s survey was pegged at 510,000. The civic body is expected to have around 20 wards, of which seven will be reserved for women candidates and three for scheduled caste candidates.