MCD delimitation panel to hire consultants to expedite boundary framing

Last week, MCD issued circular advertising the posts of consultants, who could be retired officers of election commission of India/state election commissions or retired officials from the directorate of census operations.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has started hiring consultants, officials who have worked with Census and election commissions, to help the delimitation panel which is engaged in redrawing boundaries of municipal wards in the national Capital.

A view of Civic Centre in New Delhi. According to the detailed guidelines for the delimitation exercise that were issued by the ministry of home affairs on July 22 2022, there will be a total of 250 wards in Delhi. (HT Archive)

A senior official privy to the process said that the panel is expected to complete the exercise and submit a report to the central government in the next three months.

“The delimitation panel was constituted on July 8, 2022. It was asked to submit a report to the Centre in four months. We need to expedite the process and therefore we have sought help from people who are experienced in such matters,” the official said.

Last week, MCD issued circular advertising the posts of consultants, who could be retired officers of election commission of India/state election commissions or retired officials from the directorate of census operations. The consultants will be on civic body’s rolls for at least six months and the period can be extended up to five years, the circulars said. While the delimitation commissions in past have also sought assistance of MLAs and councillors, the current panel does not have any such plans, an official from state election commission said.

According to the detailed guidelines for the delimitation exercise that were issued by the ministry of home affairs on July 22 2022, there will be a total of 250 wards in Delhi, Census 2011 data will be used for the exercise and the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes will be determined, according to the provisions of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act.

“The wards shall be so delimited that population of each ward shall, as far as practicable, be same throughout the area of corporations. According to 2011 Census, Delhi’s population of 16,787,941 was divided into 272 wards. The new average number of voters per ward is expected to be around 67,000 but a variation of 10% will be permitted so as to ensure that each ward has distinct geographical area with a well-defined physical boundary such as roads, drains etc,” a state election commission official associated with the process said. The number of wards reserved for SC candidates could be 40.

“Of these 40 wards, 20 will be reserved for SC women candidates. Also, half of the remaining 210 wards will be reserved for women candidates from the general category,” the official.

Fixing the terms of reference for the panel, the Centre had said that each assembly constituency will be divided into a minimum of three wards with a maximum deviation of population of plus or minus 10% may be acceptable. HT has seen a copy of the Centre’s communication issued by the undersecretary to government of India, CP Vinod Kumar.