Post delimitation, battle lines drawn ahead of civic polls

Restructuring of boundaries of municipal wards is going to majorly impact the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). In eight assembly constituencies under its jurisdiction, the number of wards has been increased from exiting four to maximum of five-seven.

Out of 272 municipal wards, the North and South Delhi Municipal Corporations have 104 wards each while East Delhi Municipal Corporation will get 64 wards.

Earlier, each constituency had four municipal wards. After the rejig, number of wards in each constituency will vary from three to seven.

The delimitation exercise was carried out on the basis of 2011 census and each municipal ward now roughly comprises 60,000 people.

After delimitation, Matiala will be the largest assembly segment with seven wards. In 11 assembly seats, the number of wards has been reduced to just three.

Read more: Delhi civic polls 2017: Govt will notify delimitation of wards this week

Places like Bawana, Burari and Vikaspuri will have six wards now while 12 constituencies — Narela, Badli, Rithala, Mundka, Kirari, Uttam Nagar, Najafgarh, Bijwasan, Okhla, Badarpur, Deoli and Karawal Nagar — have five wards each.

Despite redrawing of boundaries, 33 constituencies of Delhi will continue having just four wards.

The state election commission has ensured that boundaries of all wards remain within their assembly constituency limit. An unauthorised colony or slum cluster has been kept within a ward so that there is no distinction thereof between wards.

Geospatial maps and data from the census of India have been used as primary data for the purposes of delimitation. The limits of wards are altered in accordance to railway lines, roads, Delhi Metro network, and major drains, which divide them.

Last time, the delimitation of municipal wards was conducted in 2007. The number of municipal wards were increased from 136 to 272 after the trifurcation of the municipal corporation in 2012.

In North Delhi Municipal Corporation, number of wards has been increased in seven constituencies and nine constituencies now have only three wards. East Delhi Municipal Corporation, however, largely remained unaffected in terms of change in number of wards in a constituency. Karawal Nagar and Gandhi Nagar have now five and three wards respectively.

A senior official of the north municipal corporation said delimitation will help in uniform development of the wards, especially those having rural areas and unauthorised colonies. Such wards, he claimed, were being neglected due to ‘inappropriate’ division of the boundaries.

“The delimitation has been done in a way that it will cover the boundaries of a rural/urban area in one constituency. It will help MLAs utilise their funds in a planned and phased manner,” said senior official of north corporation.

Following the delimitation notification on Tuesday, both BJP and Congress leaders in various corporations exuded confidence and stated that the exercise will not have any impact on the election results.

Mukesh Goel, leader of Opposition, in north corporation said the delimitation will help his party, the Congress, come back to power with full majority. “Except former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, no one has worked for the welfare or resettlement of unauthorised colonies. The delimitation will help us get full support from the people in many areas,” he said.

BJP’s Subhash Arya, leader of house in south corporation, also said the delimitation will not hamper his party’s prospect in the municipal elections to be held in April.

“We were expecting a similar division and have been carrying out development works in rural and unauthorised areas equally. If we go by the latest trend, we are doing well in rural areas,” said Arya.