Political parties point out uneven distribution of population in new wards

The draft delimitation report placed in the public domain by the three-member commission on Tuesday. The report marks an important step towards holding municipal elections in Delhi.

New Delhi: Political parties, former councillors and resident welfare associations on Tuesday said the delimitation commission has introduced large scale variations in terms of division of the population and areas across 250 wards -- a step they say will lead to confusion among the general public and disparate distribution of development resources.  

The delimitation commission has set October 3 as the last date for the general public to submit their suggestions and objections to the report. (HT Photo)

The draft delimitation report placed in the public domain by the three-member commission on Tuesday showed that the population under different wards varied from 35,000 in Chandni Chowk to 90,000 in Mayur Vihar phase 1.

Usually, the authorities rationalize the population and voter count across the election constituencies while undertaking delimitation. According to the 2011 Census, Delhi’s population was 16,418,663, which formed the basis for division of wards across assembly constituencies. This meant that each ward should have an average population of 65,674.

Officials associated with the exercise argued that according to the terms of reference fixed the Union home ministry, the wards had to be changed within the boundaries of assembly constituency. “As each assembly constituency shall be divided into minimum three wards, the principle of average population may not be maintained throughout, therefore a deviation of plus or minus 10% from average population may be acceptable to the Central government, if geographical features, contiguity of areas...so warrant,” the terms of reference said.

Variation in population

While most of wards have population between 60,000 and 70,000, the overall count varies between the extremes of 35,509 in Chandni Chowk and 93,381 in Mayur Vihar phase-1. The draft shows that there are at least 24 wards where the population is more than 80,000. Some of the wards with highest populations (above 85,000 per ward) include Mayur Vihar phase- I (93,381), Trilokpuri (91, 991), Sangam Vihar A (89, 899), Wazirpur (87, 397), Harsh Vihar (87,009), Aman Vihar (86,546), Nihal Vihar (85, 571), Kalyanpuri (86, 599), and Saboli (86,608).

Similarly, wards with lowest population include Chandni Chowk (35, 509), Laxmi Nagar (35,684), IP Extension (44,756), Gokalpuri (44,658), Sangam Park (44, 674), East Patel Nagar (44,420), Kalkaji (44,112), Sri Ram Colony (42819) and Siddharth Nagar (42,629).

Reactions and objections

Delhi convener of the Aam Aadmi Party Gopal Rai said the wards have been redefined without any application of “logic”. “Several neighbourhoods have been shifted to different constituencies randomly, and the officers did not seem to have any clue. Some wards have a population of 45,000 while others have a population of 75,000. The funds allocated to each ward will remain the same. How does it make sense to develop an area with a population of 75 thousand with the same fund?” Rai said.

He added that the AAP is reviewing the report and the party will provide the response to the delimitation panel on the basis of ground realities. “We are optimistic that it will help to get rid of this baseless delimitation done by these people,” he added.

Prem Chauhan, former AAP councillor and leader of the opposition in the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said that there are “multiple faults” in the draft and it will invite numerous objections. “We hope these objections are factored in and not simply ignored. The population variation is too large to ignore. In my case for instance, we come under Ambedkar Nagar assembly where one ward has 50,000 people while the adjoining ward has 80,000 people. The panel should have divided the population uniformly. This report has been prepared while sitting in a room and ignoring ground realities,” he added.

Delhi Congress vice-president and former councillor from Andrews Ganj Abhishek Dutt said that his constituency was completely changed in the last delimitation, and it has again met the same fate. “Delimitation was a tactic to delay elections. It was a mere formality. People are suffering during this bureaucratic rule and elections should be held early. My whole ward has been changed, but I win each time with a bigger margin,” he added.

Manoj Tyagi, former AAP councillor and leader of opposition in the East Corporation said that the report was “unbalanced and biased”. “This has been done at the behest of the BJP. Wards have been removed, population distribution has been skewed without any criterion. We will file objections, and if needed approach court against this report,” he added

Atul Goyal, who heads the citizens group URJA, said that the entire process is based on the 2011 Census. “The numbers do not represent ground reality. It is a decade-old census and makes the whole exercise vague. The number of people in wards and assemblies has changed drastically. Secondly, the number of wards is being reduced against the increase in population which defies logic. But, we want the elections to be held as soon as possible,” he added

What next

The delimitation commission has set October 3 as the last date for the general public to submit their suggestions and objections to the report. The panel will meet twice a week to consider the public feedback and submit a final report to the ministry of home affairs on November 8.

The publication of the report marks a critical step towards holding elections to the municipal corporation which was put on hold abruptly in March after the Centre announced that it intends to merge the three municipal bodies in Delhi. The Centre brought a draft Bill to amend the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, according to which the number of total municipal wards under the unified body “will not exceed 250”. Since the existent wards in Delhi were 272, it necessitated delimitation exercise before fresh elections could be held.

The unified municipal corporation came into existence by subsuming three civic bodies-- North, South and East MCD-- on May 22, 2022 after the Parliament passed the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act 2022.

The MHA appointed a three-member delimitation panel July 8, 2022 is expected to submit its report in four.

According to officials aware of the matter, elections can be organised after a 30-day period under the model code of conduct that will be enforced by the state election commission after notifying the polls.