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A week after the first draft of the delimitation process, which decreased the number of municipal wards in Delhi from 272 to 250, was put up for feedback from the public and stakeholders, the commission has received around 100 suggestions, mostly from individuals.
“The complaints till now are mostly demands for including some areas in the constituency that have been left out, particularly from people aspiring to fight civic body polls,” said a source, adding that political parties too are expected to file their objections.
While the BJP is expected to file complaints relating to clerical errors and in some cases physical boundary not being clear, sources said the AAP is unhappy with the manner in which delimitation has been done.
Sources in the AAP said they are gathering information from each ward since they feel the process has been done in a way that benefits the BJP.
“Delimitation has been done in a way that slums which are AAP’s stronghold do not make an impact in more numbers of wards. For instance, in Old Rajinder Nagar ward, several Pandav Nagar’s areas have been removed, which made the ward an AAP stronghold. The delimitation has been done in several Vidhan Sabha constituencies in a way that AAP strongholds are clubbed in the same wards,” said a senior AAP leader.
He said the AAP would, in the coming days, file an objection and raise issues over almost every Vidhan Sabha constituency. The leader also said wards have been unevenly distributed, with some having a population of around 80,000 and some of 40,000.
The biggest ward is Mayur Vihar with a population of 93,381 and the smallest is Chandni Chowk with a population of 35,509.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also said earlier that there are errors and discrepancies in the process. “I saw the report and prima facie found there are errors and discrepancies. We are studying the report and will also examine objections being raised by the public. After that, we will soon place the matter before the Election Commission,” he had said.
Sources in the AAP said that while it would file objections, it would not make it a major election issue as the time is ripe for the party to go for elections due to BJP’s three-term anti-incumbency in the MCD.
The BJP, on the other hand, will not be raising major issues. General Secretary of the Delhi BJP Harsh Malhotra said there are clerical issues like in Rohtas Nagar, an area falling in both Ram Nagar and Welcome. “In some cases, the physical boundary is not clear or some area is part of two wards, so such issues would be raised,” he said.
He added, “AAP is a party that blames the mirror if their face does not look good in it. The wards are decided in parity with Vidhan Sabha’s population. If the Vidhan Sabha has more population, naturally the wards will also have more and vice-versa.”
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