HC accepts second petition against civic polls; hearing on Apr 6 - Hindustan Times
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HC accepts second petition against civic polls; hearing on Apr 6

By, Gurgaon
Feb 23, 2017 11:10 PM IST

A residents’ welfare association (RWA) had earlier moved a plea with the Punjab & Haryana High Court against the proposed demarcation of wards and demanding that the MCG polls be delayed till the petition is heard. The court ruled in their favour


A Punjab and Haryana high court bench has accepted a petition against the proposed demarcation of municipal wards in the city and has scheduled a hearing in this regard for April 6. The petition was filed by Indian National Lok Dal.

The MCG office at Sector 34, Info City.(PARVEEN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)
The MCG office at Sector 34, Info City.(PARVEEN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)

This is the second petition filed against the demarcation of wards. The high court has already stayed the election process following a petition filed by a city-based residents’ welfare association until the hearing scheduled for February 28.

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The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) elections are pending since June 2016.

In the petition, Rishi Raj Rana, INLD leader, has contended that only BJP leaders were part of the consulting members of the adhoc committee formed to initiate the demarcation of MCG wards, which is a violation of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994.

The petition stated, “As per section 4(2) of Haryana Municipal Corporation Act 1994 of delimitation ward rules, an adhoc committee is supposed to be constituted with less than five members belonging to various areas of interest and expertise.”

Rana said that the consulting members of the adhoc committee had six members, one more than the maximum number permitted, with five members from BJP.

The adhoc committee members comprised five BJP politicians — Gurgaon MLA Umesh Aggarwal, former MCG mayor Vimal Yadav, former councillors Dalip Sahni and Gargi Kakkar, and BJP’s Gurgaon secretary Anil Yadav — and GL Sharma, the chairman of Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Limited.

Read I Gurgaon wards set to be overhauled for smoother MCG polls

“The election process needs to be revised and the adhoc committee must comprise representatives from all political parties to ensure that there is no political bias in the demarcation process,” Rana said.

Another petition filed by Rana, against the reduction in the number of wards from 35 to 32, on the argument that the population figures mentioned in the Urban Local Bodies notification were incorrect, was rejected last month.

In March 2016, a delimitation order was issued by the directorate of urban local bodies for a rejig of wards on the basis of the 2011 census. As per the order, cities with population between 8 lakh and 10 lakh were to be allotted 32 wards. The total number of wards under the MCG was then trimmed from 35 to 32.

The order stated that during the first municipal elections of 2011, an MCG survey found the city’s population to be 11.53 lakh. However, as per the 2011 census, released later, the population was pegged at 9.1 lakh.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Kartik Kumar is a correspondent with the Hindustan Times and has covered beats such as crime, transport, health and consumer courts. Kartik currently covers municipal corporation, Delhi Metro and Rapid Metro.

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