MCD Bill | Delimitation exercise may delay civic polls by 6-18 months: Experts
The Union government presented The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, in the Lok Sabha on Friday, which seeks to merge the three municipal corporations in Delhi into one municipality.
The central government’s proposal to revise the number of municipal wards in Delhi will lead to a prolonged delimitation exercise that will eventually push back civic elections in the national capital, a major contention between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that rules the Centre and the three municipal corporations, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which governs Delhi.
The Union government presented The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, in the Lok Sabha on Friday, which seeks to merge the three municipal corporations in Delhi into one municipality. “Provided that the total number of seats shall in no case be more than two hundred and fifty and the number of seats in the Corporation shall be determined by the Central Government at the time of the establishment of the Corporation,” the Bill says. Currently, there are 272 wards under the three municipal corporations.
When the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was trifurcated in 2012, it had the same number of wards (272) that were then divided among the three bodies -- North (104), South (104 and East (64).
The last delimitation exercise for municipal wards was concluded in January 2017 and the process, according to the some officers who were involved with the mechanism, took around 16 months.
“The time taken to conclude the delimitation exercise depends on the terms framed for the committee that will carry it out. How the boundaries are defined and what principles are fixed for division of population are some of the questions that needed to be looked at to decide how much time the committee will take to redraw the boundaries of the wards. It is safe to assume that the civic polls are not likely to be held for the next few months. In fact, it can even take up to one to two years,” Mehta who also served as the Delhi state election commissioner said.
The state election commission co-ordinates the delimitation exercise after a notification to this effect is issued by the Lieutenant Governor.
A state election commission officer said that the committee for delimitation usually comprises of the state election commissioner, a retired judge or bureaucrat, an additional commissioner from MCD and joint secretary-level officer. “The delimitation committee is also assisted by nominated councillors and MLAs. The committee uses Census data and geospatial maps,” the SEC official said.
The MCD elections has become a major sticking point between the BJP, which rules the three MCDs, the AAP, which is considered the principal contender. While the BJP has reasoned that unification will help bring financial stability to the municipalities -- two of which are currently almost bankrupt -- as well as bring administrative reforms, the AAP has persistently questioned the timing of the move as the announcement came just half an hour before the state election commission was going to announce the schedule for civic polls on March 9.
Constitutional expert and former secretary to Lok Sabha and Delhi assembly SK Sharma said agreed that elections may not be held in the immediate future, pointing out that deciding on changing in number of wards and delineating their boundaries involves a complex process. “Even after a draft is produced and put in the public domain, the prospective candidates and elected MLAs usually put up several objections and suggestions to add and remove colonies from their wards depending on their electoral considerations. Many legal challenges are also raised. At the end of the process, the state election commission will also have to revise the reservation status of the wards which will additional time,” Sharma said.
Subhash Arya, former mayor and a veteran BJP municipal leader who has been associated with MCD politics for over 25 years said that the previous delimitation exercises took nearly one or one and a half year. “First the number of new wards will be fixed by the central government and only then the process will be initiated. New boundaries will be drawn by SEC, objections and suggestions will be taken before finalizing the new ward boundaries,” he added.