E-Paper
Wards to see changes in delimitation, 166 corporatorsin PMC likely
At the cabinet meeting held on Wednesday attended by chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, it was decided to revise the number of corporators in municipal corporations in the state in proportion to the population
With the Maharashtra government having decided to revise the number of corporators in each local body ahead of the civic polls, the number of elected representatives in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) may once again see a change.
At the cabinet meeting held on Wednesday attended by chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, it was decided to revise the number of corporators in municipal corporations in the state in proportion to the population. The statement from the chief minister’s office (CMO) however was silent on whether there will be a three-member ward as decided by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government a few months ago or a return to the 2017 arrangement of a four-member electoral panel.
As per the latest decision, there will be an additional member for every 100,000 people in civic bodies with a population of more than 30 lakh. This means there are likely to be around 166 corporators in the PMC as against 173 decided by the state election commission earlier. The recent delimitation process has taken the number of elected representatives in the PMC to 173 through a three-member panel system. This number was 162 in 2017 under the four-member panel system. As per Wednesday’s cabinet decision, “Municipal corporations having a population of more than 30 lakh should have the number of corporators between 161 and 175.”
The population of Pune as per the 2011 Census stands at 35 lakh, while there has been no Census in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Interestingly, the updated voters’ list has taken the electorate in the city to 34.53 lakh. Political parties and their leaders in Pune have expressed doubts over whether the latest decision can be implemented, considering the announcement by the opposition to challenge it legally. Even Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members are doubtful about the legal status of the latest decision as the state election commission has already carried out the election process which was completed last month, and the updated electoral rolls are also ready. The state election commission had already carried out the delimitation of wards and announced reservation for them through draw. With the Supreme Court (SC) having already asked the state election commission to announce elections within two weeks, many expressed doubts over implementation of the new decision. The stipulated period given by the apex court is ending in the next two days.
NCP city unit president Prashant Jagtap said, “We are going to challenge the state government’s decision. It is contempt of court. We will approach the court and point out how the existing state government has reversed the process. If the state government’s decision is to be executed, it will take five to six months more for the elections. Keeping the 14 municipal corporations without elected members is against the principle of democracy when the OBC reservation issue has been resolved.”
Meanwhile BJP leader Ujwal Keskar said, “This is a victory for us. We challenged the MVA’s decision in the SC. While hearing our plea, the court clearly mentioned to execute the election programme as per the previous status. It means the court too is expecting to conduct elections as per the 2017 status.”
One of the senior administrative officers on condition of anonymity said, “Several questions have emerged due to this fresh decision. Twenty-three villages have been merged with the PMC after 2017. The PMC will need to carry out ward delimitation for them. To get clarity on issues uch as whether the existing election process needs to be scrapped or when will elections be conducted, we need to wait for some time.”
