Delimitation of Mohali MC wards: HC summons official record from Punjab local bodies dept

It was argued that the process of delimitation was in violation of the Delimitation of Wards of Municipal Corporation Order of 1995

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday summoned the record pertaining to delimitation exercise carried out by the Punjab local bodies department to redraw the boundaries of Mohali MC wards.

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The high court bench of justice Jitendra Chauhan acted on the plea of one Bachan Singh and others who had challenged the exercise. It was argued that the process of delimitation was in violation of the Delimitation of Wards of Municipal Corporation Order of 1995.

The court was told that objections were moved on October 29. However, neither the objections were decided by passing a speaking order by the competent authority nor any survey of the population was conducted. The whole process of readjustment was illegal, the court was told.

The government counsel had told the court that objections were considered and rejected by a detailed order by the competent authority. In view of this, the court fixed the matter for December 3 and directed that all the documents/material collected during the population survey be made available to the court on Thursday.

As per the councillors of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 70% seats held by them in the previous Mohali municipal corporation House had been re-carved or reserved or deserved to their detriment. The five-year term of the House ended on April 26 this year. Among the 50 wards, 25 have been reserved for women besides five for scheduled castes (including two for women) and two for backward classes (men). As many as 23 of 33 wards previously held by SAD-BJP have been affected, while wards of only two former Congress councillors have been converted to the general category; the remaining 13 have been left untouched.