DC to head 8-member panel for delimitation of MC wards

Nearly a year ahead of the Municipal Corporation (MC) elections, the UT Administration has constituted an eight-member committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav for delimitation of wards.

Members of the committee include the UT Joint Secretary (Estate), UT Director-Social Welfare, MC Secretary, UT Senior Town Planner and a representative of the State Election Commission, UT. The Joint Secretary, Local Government, will be the Member-Secretary of the committee and representative of Census Department, UT, will be a special invitee.

The committee is likely to submit its report before December 31. According to a notification issued by Mandip Singh Brar, Secretary, Local Government, the committee shall determine the requirement of delimitation of the wards based on the available data. If it was of the view that the number of wards was required to be increased or decreased, the number and extent of area of each ward shall be determined.

For an increase or decrease in the number of wards, if any, the committee shall ensure that the city was divided into single member ward in such manner that the population of each of the ward shall, so far as practicable, be the same throughout the city in accordance with the provisions of the MC Act. The committee, in view of the upcoming Census Data Survey 2026, will give its recommendations in a time-bound manner well before the Census timeline.

The delimitation of wards shall be as per the latest data, and the committee shall prepare a draft scheme if required, based on the population as ascertained at the last Census. The draft scheme will be placed in the public domain only if any change or modification is proposed in the existing delimitation of wards scheme for inviting objections/suggestions, which will be considered and settled by the committee. Accordingly, the final draft shall be forwarded by the committee chairman for the consideration and approval of the UT Administrator.

The elections for all 35 wards of the MC are slated for December next year. After submission of the committee report, the State Election Commission will also revise the reservation of wards for women and Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates as part of the exercise.