JOIN USGlaring errors in Palike ward delimitation report
The State government appears to have found a strong reason to postpone elections to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
It is understood to have come across a number of glaring anomalies in the ward delimitation report submitted recently by the Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner V Shankar to the Urban Development Department (UDD).
The newly-carved out wards, as proposed in the report, has huge differences in population.
Several wards in the old Bengaluru areas have 35,000 to 45,000 population, while many located on the outskirts of the City have 55,000 to 60,000 population each – much against the guidelines issued by the State government for delimitation of wards. The tenure of BBMP council will expire on April 26 this year.
As per the guidelines, delimitation should be done in such a way that population should be evenly distributed across all the wards of an Urban Local Body (ULB) as far as possible.
“A deviation, however, to an extent of 10 per cent of population would be acceptable if the geographical features, means of communication, public convenience, contiguity of the areas and necessity to avoid breaking up of administrative units so demand,” the guidelines stated.
It is mandatory for the government to conduct delimitation of wards of ULBs based on the new population census data. Hence, it had directed the Bengaluru Urban DC to conduct delimitation based on 2011 population census, which has pegged population in the BBMP limits at 84.25 lakh. Accordingly, average population of BBMP wards should be about 42,000 each, official sources in the UDD said.
The State Election Commission (SEC) will start making preparations for the polls only after the government furnishes final reports on ward delimitation and reservation of wards. The government will be able to fix reservation for SCs, STs and women only after finalising the ward delimitation report, the sources said.
The sources said the government is currently examining the delimitation report. It will soon issue a notification calling for objection, if any, from public. It will direct the DC to re-work on the report in case it receives objections. There are also possibilities of ‘concerned’ citizens moving the court against the report. And the government may cite delay in finalising the report as a reason for postponing the polls. The ruling Congress wants to conduct the polls only after completing the process of dividing the BBMP, the sources said.
Besides, sources said, enumeration blocks identified during population census like slums and particular street pattern have been divided among two or more wards in several cases in the report. The guidelines stipulates that these blocks have to be kept intact by identifying them in a particular ward as far as possible, the sources said.
The sources said the government had directed the DC to address the issue of a ward boundary extending to more than one Assembly constituency. A specific direction was issued on population distribution among wards, but it has not been complied with, the sources pointed out.
When contacted, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who is also Bengaluru in charge minister, only said the report was submitted recently, and the government is examining it.