GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 11th September. The total number of seats in the Delhi Municipal Corporation has been set by the central government at 250, down from the previous figure of 272.
This was stated in a notification published in the Delhi Gazette on Saturday.
It also stated that the total number of seats reserved in the MCD for members of the Scheduled Castes in proportion to their number is 42.
The previous three corporations in Delhi had a total of 272 wards. While the North and South corporations each controlled 104 wards, the East corporation controlled 64 wards.
“In pursuance of sub-section (5) of section 3 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957, as amended by the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, the Central government hereby determines the total number of seats of the Councillors in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi as two hundred and fifty (250),” reads the notification.
“Further, in accordance with sub-section (6) (as amended) of section 3 of the aforesaid Act, the Central Government also determines the total number of seats of the Councillors in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to be reserved for members of Scheduled Castes as forty-two (42), based on the ratio to the total number of seats as the population of Scheduled Castes bears to the total population of Delhi (Census 2011),” it said.
On April 5, Parliament passed the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill-2022, which merged three civic bodies in the national capital into a new unified entity with a total ward count of 250.
The Union Home Ministry established a three-member commission in July to redraw the municipal ward boundaries in Delhi.
The exercise, which is currently underway, will pave the way for the first civic elections in Delhi since the recent reunification of three corporations.
The panel is chaired by Vijay Dev, Delhi’s State Election Commissioner; Pankaj Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; and Randhir Sahay, MCD’s Additional Commissioner.
According to the civic body, the commission will present its report within four months of its formation.
The reunified MCD was formally established on May 22, with IAS officers Ashwani Kumar and Gyanesh Bharti taking over as special officer and commissioner, respectively, of the new civic body.
The former MCD, founded in 1958, was splitted in 2012, during Sheila Dikshit’s tenure as chief minister. It was recently reunified by the merging of three civic bodies, the North, South, and East Delhi municipal corporations, or NDMC, SDMC, and EDMC.
Experts said in July that civic elections here are unlikely to take place before 2023 because redrawing civic wards is a “extensive exercise.”
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