MCD polls: Ward list sends parties back to drawing board

The revision of reserved seats by the state election commission (SEC) means several key municipal leaders will now have to look for a new seat to contest.

The Capital is all set for the crucial municipal corporation elections, due to be held in the city this April, with the state election commission (SEC) completing two crucial tasks ahead of the polls — revising the electoral rolls and fixing reserved seats.

Municipal corporation elections in Delhi are due to be held this April

The revision of reserved seats, an exercise repeated before each full-term election, has set the cat among the pigeons since several key municipal leaders will now have to look for a new seat to contest.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, of the city’s 272 municipal wards, 46 are reserved for people from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category. Additionally, 114 seats are reserved for women.

The notification issued by the SEC on Tuesday said the commission has arranged wards in descending order of percentage of SC population, and the selected SC reserved wards for 2022 were the ones that follow the last ward reserved in 2017. For instance, the Punjabi Bagh ward with 20.45% SC population was the last reserved ward in descending order in 2017. So, this year, the election commission has selected subsequent wards in descending order such as Khyala (20.02%), RK Puram (19.45%), and so on.

Several prominent councillors from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress will scout for new seats this year with the change in the status of wards they won in 2017.

BJP leaders who have been hit by the revision include former mayor and current Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta, sitting North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, former North Delhi mayor and corporation veteran Jai Prakash, incumbent South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) mayor Mukesh Suryan and his predecessor Narendra Chawla.

The Sadar Bazar ward (80-N), currently represented by Jai Prakash, has gone from being a general seat to one reserved for women. Jai Prakash said he also contested the assembly election from the Sadar Bazar assembly constituency in 2020, and added that he would have no problem shifting to a neighbouring ward, if given a ticket.

In 2017, former Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay had to leave his seat, Malviya Nagar, after it was reserved for women. Upadhyay did not contest the civic polls in 2017. This year, the seat has been restored to the general category.

The shift in reserved wards has also impacted the AAP, which is main opposition in the three MCDs and is widely regarded as the front-runner to topple the BJP, which has governed the civic bodies for 15 years now. According to the list released by the state election commission, wards of all leaders of the Opposition in the three corporations have been reserved.

Vikas Goyal, leader of the opposition (LoP) in North MCD, who represents Wazirpur ward (72-N) will have to look for a new seat, as it has now been made a reserved (SC) seat. The Dakshipuri ward represented by Prem Chauhan, who heads AAP councillors in SDMC, has now been reserved for women. The LoP in East MCD, Manoj Tyagi’s Khajoori Khas (63-E) ward has gone from being a general seat to one reserved for women.

Goyal said his party was studying the revised list, and its probable impact on the seat arithmetic.

“The rotation of wards is legal exercise, but it deprives a person from having a continuous connect with the area. If a person has worked hard for five years in an area, why should they not get an opportunity to be judged on their work? Since it is a legal exercise, it might need an amendment in the wake of ground realities,” he said.

In the case of Abhishek Dutt, a senior Congress municipal leader, it could be a possible return to his home turf as Andrews Ganj (59-S), a ward he won in 2012, was reserved for women in 2017. Then, under the delimitation exercise, the ward’s boundaries were changed. Dutt got elected from then newly carved seat, which retained the name of Andrews Ganj. Now, that his seat has been reserved (women), he may move back to Kasturba Nagar ward, which contains part of his old seat.

“In the new areas which have been added to the ward in Lodhi complex, we are showcasing our achievements in colonies like Sadiq Nagar,” Dutt said.

Subhash Arya, a former mayor and senior BJP municipal leader, said the party has constituted a four-member team to study the election commission’s order, and added that the party will come up with a formal response in a few days.