Ghaziabad civic polls: 57 of 100 wards declared as reserved seats

Ahead of the municipal elections that are likely to take place in Ghaziabad by the end of the year, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation has 57 of its 100 wards as reserved seats for various categories, officials said Thursday

Ahead of the municipal elections that are likely to take place in Ghaziabad by the end of the year, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation has 57 of its 100 wards as reserved seats for various categories, officials said Thursday. While 14 wards were reserved for the candidates from the Scheduled Caste (SC), 21 have been reserved for candidates from other backward classes (OBC), officials said.

Ghaziabad, India – November 3, 2022: The office of the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, where the Mayor and fellow councilors will soon be chairing a meeting, in Ghaziabad, India, on Thursday, November 3, 2022. (Photo by Sakib Ali/ Hindustan Times)

The final list has been sent to the office of the district magistrate from where it will be sent to the state administration for approval.

“The list of reserved wards has been finalised and 14 wards have been reserved for SC category, 21 for OBC category and 22 for women candidates. On the seats reserved for women, SC and OBC category women can also contest. So, the overall reserved wards stand at 57 while the rest are for general category candidates,” said Nitin Gaur, Ghaziabad municipal commissioner.

He said the reservation has been decided on the basis of demography. “The list has been finalised on the basis of 2011 Census,” Gaur added.

A government order seeking the proposals for reservation of wards in local bodies was issued to different local bodies across the state on October 21 this year.

The order said (while mentioning a previous order of November 24, 2011) that seats which are reserved for SCs, OBCs and women in the previous elections will not be respectively allotted to the same categories the coming elections as well, said officials.

The Ghaziabad district has nine local bodies -- Ghaziabad municipal corporation, nagar palikas of Modinagar, Muradnagar, Loni and Khoda-Makanpur, and nagar panchayats of Dasna, Fareed Nagar, Palta and Niwari.

According to the voters’ list, as of now, the nine local bodies have 2,346,365 voters and 1,456,110 voters comer under the jurisdiction of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation.

During the previous elections in 2017, the local bodies had a total of 2,162,088 voters and that included 1,359,145 voters under the municipal corporation.

The municipal officials said the district local bodies have witnessed an increase of 184,277 voters as on date. The local body elections will also decide the posts of corporation mayor, chairpersons of different local bodies, councillors of the corporation and members of nagar palikas and panchayats.

“The voters’ list for the local body elections is likely to be finalised by November 9. The finalisation process is on,” said Ritu Suhas, additional district magistrate and nodal officer for local bodies.