Delhi cantt board finalises status of ward quotas

The board held a public draw of lots after which three wards were reserved for women candidates, one ward for a scheduled caste candidate and the rest for general category candidates

Even as the new set of councillors settle in at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) has begun electoral preparations in the capital and finalised the reservation status in eight wards here on Thursday.

DCB is one of the three urban local bodies of the Capital and covers areas such as Naraina and Sadar Bazar. (HT Archive)

The board held a public draw of lots after which three wards have been reserved for women candidates (ward numbers 1, 2 and 6), one ward (ward number 5) for a scheduled caste candidate and the rest for general category candidates.

A senior DCB official said that the tenure of the last of representatives ended in January, 2020, and the board has since been operating without elected representatives over the last three years due to the pandemic. “On February 18, the defence ministry had announced elections in 57 cantonment areas all over the country but Delhi was not incorporated in the list as the ward reservation process was not complete. With the reservation process now over, preparations for the elections can start,” the official said requesting anonymity.

A second official from the board said that the elections in Delhi will be taken up only after the election process is completed in 57 areas. “We were told to complete the reservation process in the 15 days after the announcement of the first elections. Now that the reservation process is complete, we expect the elections to be held in the later part of May or early June this year,” he added.

The local body had earlier issued a public notice under the Cantonment Electoral Rules (CER) 2007 in this regard. “Under the rules of CER, members of the board and general public are hereby informed that draw of lots for reservation of wards... will be held on March 2, 2023 at 11.30 hours in the premises of office of cantonment board, Sadar Bazar, and anyone who wishes to witness the process may attend the same,” the notice issued by the president of the board on February 21 had said.

The cantonment area covers eight wards and the last election was held in January, 2015. DCB is one of the three urban local bodies of the capital besides the MCD and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). It covers areas such as Naraina, Hoshiyar Singh Park, Uri Enclave, Airforce Station, Kandhar line, Railway colony, RR Colony, Ring Road Colony, Karan Vihar, Camero Complex Subroto Park, Arjan Vihar, Mehram Nagar, Jharera village, and Sadar Bazar among others.

The ward reservation process was overseen by the board president Brigadier RC Katoch, CEO SVR Chandra Shekhar and executive engineer Alkesh Sharma. The lots were drawn by the board president and the CEO.

On February 18, joint secretary, Ministry of Defence, Rakesh Mittal, had announced that elections will be held in 57 of the cantonment boards across the country on April 30, 2023.