Election commission marks reserved wards for Delhi civic polls

Based on the distribution of the people belonging to the Scheduled Caste and the provisions of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, a total of 46 wards have been put under the reserved category, of which 24 are further reserved for women from the community

The state election commission on Tuesday issued the list of municipal wards that will be reserved for women and Scheduled Caste category for the municipal corporation elections due to be held in April.

Of the total 272 municipal wards in Delhi, the North and South Delhi corporations have 104 seats each and the East MCD has 64 wards. (Picture for representation only/HT)

The wards are revised before each municipal election, an election commission official said.

The official who asked not to be named said that of the total 272 municipal wards in the city the North and South Delhi corporations have 104 seats each and the East MCD has 64 wards.

Based on the distribution of the people belonging to the Scheduled Caste and the provisions of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, a total of 46 wards have been put under the reserved category. Of the total 46 SC reserved seats, 24 are further reserved for the women from the community.

Of these 46 wards, 20 are under the North civic body, 15 under South corporation and 11 come under the East MCD, the official said.

The announcement of reserved wards is expected to pave the way for viable candidates staking their claim for tickets based on the status of the wards.

The change in the status of several wards would also force several key municipal leaders to change their seats. EDMC mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal, who represents ward 27 (Raghubarpura), which was a general seat, will now be reserved for women. Aggarwal said that the seat used to a reserved for women before the 2017 elections, and it has now gone back to the same category.

“Our party cadre is strong at the grassroots level and the rotation of seats should not affect our prospects. We all fight under the party election symbol, and we will be ready to contest from any seat,” he said.

Similarly, the seat of former EDMC mayor Nirmal Jain (Shahadra 31-E), has been converted from a general seat to SC-Women reserved seat. Jai Prakash, former North MCD mayor who comes from Sadar Bazar ward (80N) ward but the seat has now been reserved for female candidate. Similarly, Chandni Chowk, Kamla Nagar and Civil lines will now be reserved for women.

Abhishek Dutt, congress state vice-president is a sitting councilor from Andrews Ganj ward (59-S). The seat has now been reserved for women. Dutt may have to move back to his Defence colony ward which he represented in his first term.

Dutt said that the party welcomes the decision made by the election commission and it will bring forward the option of alternative to AAP and BJP in the coming elections. “The real good days will be coming when the Congress comes to power,” he added.

In SDMC, several prominent councillors will see a change of status of their seat. For instance, the 15-S Janakpuri west ward of former SDMC mayor Narendra Chawla will now be reserved for female candidates.

Durgesh Pathak, AAP MCD in-charge, did not comment on the announcement.