21 of 41 Shimla wards reserved for women

Bhanu P Lohumi

Shimla, March 11

Shimla Deputy Commissioner (DC) Aditya Negi today notified reservation of wards for women and scheduled castes (SCs). This was done in compliance with the directions of the State Election Commission, under Section 10 of the Shimla Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, and amended HP Municipal Corporation Rules. There is no reservation for Scheduled Tribes (STs) as their population is negligible.

Women councillors will dominate the new Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC), with 21 out of 41 wards reserved for women, including four for Scheduled Caste (SC) women, while only 17 wards have gone unreserved.

The number of wards was increased from 34 in the present SMC to 41 after delimitation and seven wards (four for SC women and three for SC men) have been reserved for SCs, who constitute 17.45 per cent of the population in the SMC area.

A provision of 50 per cent reservation for women exists in the Municipal Corporation Act and the outgoing House too had 50 per cent women members. The highest percentage of women, 54.03 per cent, is in Summerhill ward, while the lowest of 34.92 per cent is in Ram Bazar Gunj ward.

Of the total population of 1,69,578 in Shimla MC, 29,601 are SCs while Schedule Tribe (ST) population is 2,765 (1.63 per cent), which is below five per cent and therefore, no seat is reserved for STs. The population of other backward classes is zero.

The highest population of 5,639 is in Tutikandi ward and the lowest of 2,713 is in Kangna Dhar. Bharari, Ruldu Bhatta, Kaithu, Summerhill, Jakhu, Benmore, Engineghar, Dingudhar, Dhalli-I, Shanti Vihar, Bhatta Kuffar, Sangti, Kusumpti I, Brockhurst, Kangnadhar, Pateog and Kanlog wards have been reserved for women while Annandale, Nabha, Upper Krishnanagar and lower Vikas Nagar have been reserved for SC women. In addition, three more wards — Lower Krisnanagar, Phagli and Lower Khalini — have been reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.

Women candidates would have advantage as they can also contest from open seats and SC women can enter the fray from three seats reserved for SC men. The elections are likely to be held in May or June this year. The BJP had wrested SMC for the first time in the past 32 years in 2017 and installed its Mayor and Deputy Mayor.