Delimitation: Boundaries of 10 Mumbai wards may change based on citizen’s feedback

The newly-formed boundaries of a few of the electoral wards in the state are likely to change. This means that the electorates of a few thousand people may shuffle. This in turn can change the prospects of several candidates.

The rearrangement in boundaries was initiated after the citizens sent their suggestions and objections to the delimitation process carried out by the civic officials as per the directions of state election commission.

According to sources, about 10 electoral wards are likely to see alterations in their current boundaries. The committee went through over 600 suggestions and objections that included wrongly marked boundaries that divided one society in two wards and an open playground in two wards.

A senior civic officer requesting anonymity, said, “We had initially formed the wards on the basis of population by keeping it constant to about 54,000 in almost all 227 wards except in a few cases where permission of the state election commission was taken. But when citizens objected to a few of the boundaries and sent us their suggestions, we redrew about 10 electoral wards. These will be minimal changes on the basis of site inspection.”

Sources from the civic body said that after studying the objections on electoral wards and conducting an appropriate site inspection, a factual report would be drafted. In the report, the ground status of various wards’ boundaries has been stated. In places where the citizens have raised objections that a housing society has been divided into two wards, the civic officers have recommended shuffling boundaries so that one society stays undivided in one electoral ward.

“The committee appointed by the election commission directed us to carry out spot verification for all the feedback that the citizens sent us. We then started our field work and have nearly completed the procedure of drafting the report and shall submit it by next week. The final ward boundaries will be uploaded on the BMC’s website by end of this month,” said a senior civic officer associated with the process. The names of the wards were not disclosed as the report is still being prepared.

However, civic officials also said that the changes will be subject to approval from the committee appointed by election commission to hear the suggestions and objections put forth by citizens after the detailed status report is submitted.