Parties may need to rejig MCD poll plans after reserved wards list

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) Act, 1957 and the 2022 amendment, the civic body has 250 municipal wards. Of this number, 42 have been reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.

With the State Election Commission (SEC) revising the reservation status of Delhi’s wards ahead of the forthcoming municipal polls for the second time this year, several prospective candidates have had to reorganise the course of action they are taking with respect to the elections.

Of the remaining 208 general category seats, 50% are reserved for women candidates. (Representative image)

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) Act, 1957 and the 2022 amendment, the civic body has 250 municipal wards. Of this number, 42 have been reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. These are wards with the highest SC population based on the proportion of their population according to the 2011 Delhi census. Half of these seats have been reserved for women candidates from the SC community.

Of the remaining 208 general category seats, 50% are reserved for women candidates.

An SEC official said that, before every election, the commission rotates the reserved wards for even representation. The last reservation order was issued on January 25, but elections to the three erstwhile civic bodies (with 270 wards) were not held as they were merged into one. A fresh reservation order for the unified MCD with 250 wards was issued on Thursday, leading to a change of plans for potential candidates.

An SEC official said that, before every election, the commission rotates the reserved wards for even representation.

For example, AAP leader Prem Chauhan, the former leader of Opposition in the erstwhile South MCD, represented the Dakshinpuri ward, which was changed to a seat reserved for women, but has now become a seat reserved for SC candidates. He said, “They can try all the tactics but AAP will win this election… But parties should consider that reserved wards should be mandatorily rotated. We will have a new census in the next few years and assembly-level delimitation is expected in 2027. Therefore we will again resort to new wards and the rotation policy will become redundant.”

Other wards where the status has changed include RK Puram, which has gone from a seat reserved for women to an SC seat in January and is now a general seat, and Paharganj ward, which was a seat reserved for women, changed to seat for SC women in January and it is now a general category seat.

Former East MCD mayor and BJP leader Shyam Sunder Aggarwal, who represented the Raghubarpura ward said his ward has completely changed, including the name being changed to Gandhi Nagar. “My ward has become a women’s reserved seat but I will carry out my duty as per the work allocation by the party. If the party wants me to carry out organisational duties, I will do that or I can change my seat,” he said.

AAP and Congress functionaries said their parties were studying the revised list and its impact on seat arithmetic.