What draft of BBMP ward delimitation in Bengaluru looks like
The Hindu
On August 4, the Urban Development Department (UDD) withdrew the final notification issued by the previous BJP government. In the new notification, the total number of wards was brought down from 243 to 225.
The new ward delimitation draft issued by the Karnataka government late on August 18 has fresh boundary demarcations, reduction in the number of wards in some constituencies that elected BJP MLAs, and new names for a few wards.
On August 4, the Urban Development Department (UDD) withdrew the final notification issued by the previous BJP government. In the new notification, the total number of wards was brought down from 243 to 225.
The Congress was opposing the earlier delimitation process vociferously claiming it was carved out to favour the BJP. When the BJP government increased the number of wards from 198 to 243, it was accused of redrawing boundaries unscientifically.
In June 2023, the High Court of Karnataka granted 12 weeks to the government to redo the delimitation exercise. The Congress government had requested the court for additional time on the grounds that the earlier process was unscientific.
The court was hearing an appeal challenging the dismissal of their writ petition by a single-judge bench. The appeal was filed by B.N. Manjunatha Reddy and three others after their writ petition challenging the July 14, 2022 delimitation notification was dismissed by the single-judge bench. The appellants said the bench failed to take note of the fact that the division of wards was irregular and disproportionate. According to them, the delimitation committee committed glaring errors.
The new draft has carved out on an average of 37,527 people per ward as against 35,000 per ward in the past. According to Umesh Shetty, a former councillor, the Congress government has demarcated boundaries to suit their vote bank, and they even changed some historic names given by the BJP for wards.
Some of the names given by the BJP were Chhatrapati Shivaji, Kanneshwara Rama, Veera Madakari, and Ranadheera Kanteerava. The new government went with the original name of the layout.
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