First draft of BBMP ward delimitation report ready

The first draft of the BBMP ward delimitation report is ready.

The number of wards in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has gone up from 198 to 243 in accordance with the BBMP Act, 2020. The new wards are being carved out of the existing wards with little changes to the BBMP limits.

Notifying the 243 wards is key to holding elections to the BBMP, which has been without an elected council since September 2020.

The first draft, which took about a year to complete, has come in for criticism. MLAs from both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress said they were not consulted during its preparation. And the BBMP has not yet received suggestions/objections from citizens or made the draft public.

Most of the work pertaining to ward delimitation was carried out by consultants who took inputs only from "some" elected representatives, sources say.

A senior BBMP official said suggestions/objections would be invited from the public once the Urban Development Department approved the draft.

It is learnt that the delimitation commission, headed by BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta, held a total of five sittings. The commission was established in October 2020 and was to prepare the draft by January 28, 2022.

Going by the brief given to the commission, the population in each of the 243 wards is expected to remain uniform as far as is practicable.

Sources say the 2011 census report formed the basis for redrawing the ward boundaries. (The 198 wards were drawn in 2007 on the basis of the 2001 census.)

The same consultant who had drawn the boundaries of 198 wards has been roped in for the revised task, it is learnt.

In the new draft, outlying assembly constituencies such as Bengaluru South, Bommanahalli, KR Puram, Dasarahalli and Mahadevapura may get more wards. In contrast, constituencies in the city's core, such as Basavanagaudi, Gandhinagar, Govindaraja Nagar, Hebbal, Sarvagna Nagar and Shanthinagar, may get just one new ward each.

Some former corporators moved the Supreme Court last year against the delay in holding the BBMP polls. The matter has been tentatively listed for hearing this March.

Abdul Wajid, the opposition party leader in the previous BBMP council, accused the government of playing hide-and-seek on ward delimitation. "The number of the ward that I represented was changed twice. This will only confuse people, especially those paying property tax. The commission must follow a transparent procedure for ward delimitation by taking inputs from the public and the elected representatives," he said.