150 civic wards to get new boundaries

They will get new numbering scheme, alphabetic code

The 272 municipal wards going to polls next April will get a new numbering scheme and alphabetic code even as Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung is perusing an election department’s report favouring redrawing of boundaries of 150 wards.

Once Raj Niwas approves the report, all three civic agencies will get their own set of wards with serial number starting from 1. At present, ward numbered between 1 and 272 are haphazardly distributed among the three corporations.

With the new numbering scheme, the North Corporation wards will be 1 to 104 and the serial number of wards in South Corporation will be 1 to 104 and in East Corporation the serial numbers shall change to 1 to 64.

The Delhi State Election Commission’s report on delimitation of the 272 municipal wards on Jung’s desk has been prepared on the principle of have an equal average population of about 60,000 in each ward.

An official said over the years the population in many of the wards has grown disproportionately as compared to many others.

Pressure on civic services

“This adds to pressure on the civic services and the elected representative in serving his voters,” said an official, explaining the logic behind redrawing the ward boundaries to have almost equal number of residents in all constituencies.

Sources said the Commission’s report on delimitation has suggested that boundaries of 122 wards out of the 272 need not be disturbed as population in these wards has not grown from an average of 40,000 in 2007 to around 60,000 now.

If Raj Niwas approved the delimitation report, the average population each ward in East Delhi Municipal Corporation would be 61,000 in North Corporation the average population in each ward would be around 60,000 and in South Corporation 59,000.

In the current ward list, all 70 Assembly constituencies have four wards each. After the delimitation, there is a possibility that only 31 of the Assembly constituencies will be left with four wards each.

Another first in the newly carved wards would be the new serial number pattern and code for distinct identification of the ward.

“The State Election Commission has added an alphabetical code after the number. For instance, all wards in the North Corporation will have an ‘N’ after their serial number,” said an official.

Wards in South Corporation will have an ‘S’ after their serial number and those in East Corporation will have an ‘E’ after their serial number, he said.

The current delimitation exercise is different from the trifurcation of the MCD in 2012. The serial numbers can be changed only during delimitation, according to an official of the State Election Commission.

The proposal for the delimitation of the civic wards was prepared by the Urban Development department and sent to Lieutenat Governor Najeeb Jung for approval last year.

Jung holds the power for permitting delimitation of wards in Delhi. The power was delegated by the central government to the LG under provisions of Section 3 and 5 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957.