The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is likely to submit a draft report on the improvement of electoral ward boundaries before the State Election Commission (SEC) by next week. Officials of the BMC’s election department said that the process of delimitation or reform of ward boundaries is almost over and not much change is expected.
On August 25, the SEC issued directions to 18 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, to begin the process of delimiting ward boundaries. The state election body had asked the corporations to send the draft report at the earliest.
As part of the preparedness, corporations are revamping ward boundaries based on population, updating voter lists ward-wise based on changes in geography due to infrastructure development such as redevelopment, new road construction, bridges and slum rehabilitation. are. But the areas of the wards are included or excluded. projects.
The census was due to take place this year, however, because of COVID-19, doesn’t count.
Officials said that during the delimitation process, it is ensured that the names of the people residing in the same area are at the nearest polling stations. “In an electoral ward if the population gap is more than 10% or less than 10% then we will go for delimitation. Hence, we have asked our staff to collect all the data on the addition or removal of voters in the wards, based on which the threshold will be fixed,” said additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani.
“The draft report is almost complete and it is likely to be submitted by next week,” he said. After the submission of the report to the SEC, further process of publishing the new ward boundaries and inviting suggestions and objections will be conducted.
There are 227 electoral wards in Mumbai. As per norms, the proportion of population in each electoral ward should be around 54,000. However, if the difference is more than 10% and less than 10% there will be delimitation.
Earlier in 2017, the Congress had alleged rigging of the boundaries of the erstwhile ward. BJP Government. Congress leader Ravi Raja had written to the Election Commission alleging that the BJP changed the ward boundaries in at least 45 wards which benefitted it. Shiv Sena He was also accused of manipulating electoral wards in 30 wards.
Asked whether the civic body is also planning to change the ward boundaries of these wards, an official of the BMC’s election department said, “Not much change is expected.”
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