In Delhi's municipal wards, the politics over delimitation continues

All three leading parties — the Congress, AAP, and BJP — have raised issues over the draft report by the delimitation committee of the state election commission, as they gear up for the municipal polls in December or early next year.

New Delhi: With the contours of the municipal wards redefined in the draft report by the delimitation committee of the state election commission, the battle lines are drawn for the municipal polls that are likely in December or early next year.

For instance, Chandni Chowk ward has a sizeable portion of Jama Masjid area in the draft report. (Shivam Saxena/HT Photo)

While the three main political parties in the city say that they are ready for municipal polls, they have started the exercise to examine the draft to assess its impact on their political fortunes.

On Wednesday, Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal, convener of the Aam Aadmi Party, said the party is studying the draft and the findings will be kept before people as well as the commission. "While prima facie looking at the report, I found many anomalies. They have sought public feedback and we will put forward our suggestions," he said.

The AAP and the Congress have said that there are several anomalies in the draft. Senior Congress leaders alleged that the delimitation exercise is “politically motivated” and major changes have been made in constituencies that are Congress strongholds, such as the ones reserved for Scheduled Castes and with a large percentage of unauthorised colonies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled the corporation for 15 years, has welcomed the report and said that it is ready for the elections.

Earlier this year, the Congress and AAP accused the BJP of running away from elections fearing defeat in March, when the elections were postponed because the Centre announced that it will unify the three corporations.

Delimitation and major concerns

The number of municipal wards has been reduced from 272 to 250. The delimitation commission has reworked the boundaries of all municipal wards.

While the BJP has welcomed the report, leaders of all three political parties have raised issues regarding the imbalance in the population in wards.

As per the report, wards such as Laxmi Nagar, and Chandni Chowk will have a population of around 35,000, while Mayur Vihar phase-1, Trilokpuri, and Sangam Vihar-A will have around 90,000 people.

In Patparganj assembly constituency, which is represented by Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia and has a population of 221,317, the number of wards remains unchanged at four, while in the neighbouring Kondli assembly constituency (with a population of 233,716) the number of wards has been reduced from four to three.

Pointing at the anomaly in redefining the municipal ward boundaries, Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar said, “The state election commission must clarify on what basis the boundaries are redrawn. If the population was the basis, then how can Patparganj have four wards and Kondli, just three? In this case, the natural boundaries of the area have also been overlooked. We are examining the committee’s report and will come out with our observations soon. But this entire exercise is politically motivated to benefit a party.”

AAP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Kalkaji, Atishi, said that the party will give its feedback to ensure that the delimitation is “fair and equitable”. “There cannot be 80,000 people in one ward and 40,000 in another. Especially since all wards receive the same amount of money for development projects. As a result, wherever there is a large population, people will suffer,” she said.

While Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta welcomed the report on Tuesday, some party leaders raised objections to the way boundaries have been redrawn. For instance, Chandni Chowk ward has a sizeable portion of the Jama Masjid area in the draft report. Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor, said, “Dariba, Maliwara, Nai Sarak, areas which were earlier part of Chandni Chowk ward, have been added to Jama Majid ward. If there was no change in the number of wards on the assembly constituency, then what was the need to rework the boundaries?”

A total of 24 assembly constituencies have been impacted by the delimitation exercise namely Matiala, Kondli, Dwarka, Burari, Uttam Nagar, Najafgarh, Rohini, Shalimar Bagh, Badli, Timarpur, Sultanpuri Majra, Najafgarh and Sangam Vihar.

Veteran Congress leader Chattar Singh said that major changes have been done in assembly constituencies that are served for Scheduled Castes and the ones with a large percentage of unauthorised colonies, which were once considered Congress strongholds that later shifted to the AAP.

Singh said, “There are constituencies such as Kondli, Trilokpuri, Patel Nagar etc where the population rule has been violated. These constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Castes and are Congress strongholds. The exercise has been done to benefit one party. We will raise this issue.”

But Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra said if people have objections, they can raise them with the state election commission. “It is wrong to say that it has been done to benefit a party. There are some anomalies such as one area being listed in two wards or the population disparity. We will also take up the issue with the election commission. But with the process likely to be complete in the next few months, we are happy that elections will be held soon.”

Frequent delimitation and its side effects

It is the third time in less than 15 years that the contours of the municipal wards are being redefined.

Srikanth Viswanathan, chief executive officer of Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, said that the only condition under which 250 wards will work meaningfully for Delhi is if they have area sabhas within wards at the polling booth level and have a sufficient number of community officials and engineers to serve them. "Else wards would be too large for effective governance in terms of area and population. Separately, a point for reflection from an urban policy standpoint is the effect of delimitation and redrawing of ward boundaries every 10 years on community identities and community ownership of neighbourhoods. Combined with rotation and reservations of seats to city councils, this could have an impact on building trust and engagement between citizens, councillors, and ward level officials."

“Frequent changes in ward compositions after every decade have an impact on the community identity. If we keep changing the wards so frequently, people will not be able to develop an association and identity for their wards. A typical resident stays at a place for many decades and long-term planning should be undertaken especially under the prevailing conditions when there is large migration taking place,” he added.