MC ward delimitation process to take another month, say officials

Ludhiana: In order to increase the pace of ward delimitation ahead of the upcoming municipal corporation (MC) elections, the civic officials are now dependent upon the block level officers (BLOs) who are quite familiar with voters in their respective areas, and are expected to complete the remaining 20% of the work. But the officials claimed that it will still take at least 10-15 days in completing this work, after which they will be able to prepare the maps and divide the population equally in wards, following which the notification will be issued.
One of the officials claimed that 80% of the population has been covered, and now the remaining will be covered with the help of the BLOs who already have the details of the voters in each household in their areas, and can cross-check it from the voter list. The work is expected to pick pace and get completed soon.
Meanwhile, the MC joint commissioner Ankur Mahindroo said, “We are only left with 5-6 wards and these will also be covered very shortly. By the end of this month, maximum, the entire process will get over.” Regarding elections, he said he doesn’t have a fresh update but they are expected to be conducted in February.
The ward delimitation started in June and at that time, the MC officials were supposed to complete it within one month. In a haste, the officials had recruited staff through outsourcing to conduct surveys in the wards. However, the permission from MC general house was sought in the last meeting on October 4 where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs came at loggerheads with councillors from all the other parties. The house then refused to give consent to the resolution for making payment to the staff. However, the AAP MLAs had claimed that they will get the ward delimitation done at government-level.
The officials had made 18 lakh population its base, and around 14 lakh population has been covered. Once this survey in the wards get completed, they will be able to prepare the maps of various wards, and then the wards reserved for SC/BC and women candidates will be announced after which public objections will be called from the residents. Therefore, a long process is still pending before the MC before they complete the ward delimitation. The final notification will define the date for the elections.
The councillors from other parties were also a bit anxious about the ward delimitation, as they have fears that their wards might get changed or reserved, rendering them unable to contest the elections.