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Admn sets ball rolling for Chandigarh MC polls, reserves 16 of 35 wards
Nine of 16 wards reserved for women candidates for the Chandigarh municipal corporation elections scheduled in December
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The process for the Chandigarh municipal corporation elections, scheduled in December, kicked off on Tuesday with the UT administration announcing reservation of wards.
Of the 35 wards in the city, 16 have been reserved for three categories – nine for women (general), four for Scheduled Caste (SC) and three for SC (women) candidates. The remaining 19 will be open for the general category candidates.
In the last elections held in 2016, the number of wards was 26, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning from 20, the Congress from five, while one seat went to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
Since then, UT merged 13 villages with MC, increasing the number of wards from 26 to 35. Till December 2020, only nine of the 22 villages in the city were under the civic body’s ambit.
Among the wards reserved for SC candidates, including those for SC women, are ward numbers 7, 16, 19, 24, 26, 28 and 31.
Ward numbers 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 18, 22 and 23 have been reserved for women (general) category candidates, and the remaining 2, 3, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34 and 35 are for candidates from the general category. The election will be held on the basis of the 2011 census.
The draw of lots was held at the UT State Guest House by the state election department in the presence of nominees of political parties.
Equations set to change
As areas of most wards have been changed due to increase in number of wards and re-carving of boundaries, many candidates will have to opt for areas other than those represented by them previously.
In the BJP, among those affected by the reservation are former mayor Rajesh Kalia, who was sitting councillor from Maloya (ward number 28), but now the seat has gone to an SC woman candidate.
Devinder Singh Babla, Congress’ leader of opposition in the MC House, will also have to consider his options, as his area (Sectors 27, 28 and 29) got reserved for a woman.
Code of conduct likely in November second week
Officials said the code of conduct is likely to come in force in November’s second week, following which the nomination process will commence.
The election process is to be concluded by December 31, the date of expiry of the current term of MC.
