Home Ministry sets up commission for delimitation of municipal wards in Delhi

The MHA has set up a three-member commission to carry out a fresh delimitation exercise of the municipal wards in Delhi.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has constituted a commission to carry out a delimitation exercise of municipal wards in Delhi. A three-member delimitation commission will present its report in four months of its formation.

"Taking a step forward in the direction of holding municipal elections, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, by exercising its powers under sections 3, 3A and 5 of the DMC Act, 1957, has constituted a delimitation commission to assist central government in delimitation of wards and carrying out other functions related to it," the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said in a statement.

The panel will have three members -- Vijay Dev, State Election Commissioner, Delhi, who will be its chairman, Pankaj Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Randhir Sahay, Additional Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

A bill was passed on March 22 to unify the three civic bodies in the national capital. There will now be only 250 seats in the integrated MCD instead of 272 and hence, this calls for a fresh delimitation.

After delimitation, objections will be sought from the people and then the seats will be decided. At the same time, the situation regarding reserved seats will become clear.

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"We are happy that the central government has constituted a committee for ward delimitation of MCD. But no order has been made on how many wards there will be in Delhi. Then how will this committee work?," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.