The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has completed the draft delimitation process and submitted it to the state government, which in turn has forwarded it to the state election commission for final review.
Following directions from the Supreme Court, the state government had issued a notification instructing local bodies to begin the ward delimitation and voter list division processes. Acting on these instructions, PMC prepared the draft delimitation plan and sent it to the state government.
However, the process has drawn criticism from political quarters. Though it was carried out as an administrative exercise, leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have alleged that the delimitation was influenced by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They claimed that BJP office bearers held several meetings with civic officials regarding the process.
Addressing the allegations, municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said, “I met with representatives of all political parties who approached me and heard their suggestions. This is a purely administrative process, and we have followed the instructions given by the state election commission.”