New Delhi:
Delhi’s municipal wards have been redrawn as a first step to hold the delayed civic polls, seen as a test of popularity for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party. The move, opposed by AAP, is likely to scale up the hostilities between the Centre and the state.
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There is a buzz that the Delhi civic polls could coincide with the assembly elections in Gujarat — an effort to keep AAP engaged in Delhi. The party has been conducting a vigorous campaign in Gujarat, highlighting its model of governance in Punjab and Delhi, where the BJP has come a distant second in the assembly elections.
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The civic polls, initially scheduled for March, was pushed back, with the Centre saying it wants to merge the three civic bodies in Delhi. AAP contended that the BJP was playing for time as it was nervous about the contest, in view of its crushing defeat in Punjab.
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“People are questioning the move. It has been seven-eight years since the BJP is at the Centre, why didn’t they do it (unification) earlier,” AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said. “The BJP knows that there is an AAP wave in Delhi and they would lose,” he said.
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Before the merger, which took place in May, the three municipal corporations – South Delhi Municipal Corporation, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation – were under the control of the BJP.
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AAP had also opposed the draft plan for redrawing the wards when it was submitted by the Delimitation Commission last month, calling it “politically motivated”. Arguing that it would introduce disparity in population and sizes of the civic administrative units, AAP even went to the Supreme Court.
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The top court has sought a response from the State Election Commission and the Central government.
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On Monday, the delimitation committee submitted its final report on redrawing the wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to the Ministry of Home Affairs after disposing of all objections and suggestions. The committee had received over 1,700 suggestions and objections to the draft report on the delimitation of wards in Delhi, sources said.
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After a gazette notification by the Union Home Ministry, the delimitation exercise will be completed. Under it, there will be 250 wards in the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi – down from 272 — of which 42 will be reserved for the Scheduled Castes.
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“22 assembly constituencies were to see a reduction of one ward each under delimitation, but the ward structure of all 70 constituencies was reorganised in the draft order,” AAP had said last month.
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“The exercise has been called out for lack of logic, rationale and reason by experts across the board. It has been argued that the reorganisation of wards under MCD delimitation may pose a threat to the development of the national capital and put interests of the working-class wards in the dark,” the party had added in a statement.
