Revision as of 22:42, 12 April 2017

The results of the by-elections held in May 2016 for 13 municipal wards, compared to the 2012 elections for the same wards; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, May 18, 2016

The ward-wise results of the by-elections held in May 2016 for 13 municipal wards, compared to the 2012 elections for the same wards; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, May 18, 2016

2012

See graphic

Results of the elections to Delhi’s three municipal corporations, 2012; The Times of India, March 15, 2017

Seats reserved for SCs, women/ 2017

Mayank Manohar, Poll panel notifies reserved seats, Feb 9, 2017: The Times of India

Seats for SC and women candidates in Delhi municipal elections, 2017; Mayank Manohar, Poll panel notifies reserved seats, Feb 9, 2017: The Times of India

Of 272 Seats Across 3 Corpns, 46 Marked For SC & 114 For Women Candidates

Setting the tone for municipal polls in April, the state election commission (SEC) on notified the reservation of seats for women and schedule caste candidates across the 272 wards. This has paved the way for pre-election work to be carried out by SEC in consultation with the three corporations.

The scheduled caste seats were reserved based on the SC population in a ward. “For instance, under North Delhi Municipal Corporation 19.38% of the total population comprises scheduled castes.So, out of 104 seats 20 have been reserved for SC candidates. From the 20 reserved seats, 10 are for women SC candidates. The remaining 84 seats have been divided equally between women and general candidates,“ said a senior SEC official.

Out of the total 272 seats across the three corporations, 46 have been reserved for SC candidates -20 under north corporation, 15 under south corporation and 11 under east corporation. Of the remaining 226 seats, 114 have been reserved for women candidates.

While odd numbered se ats are reserved for women candidates, the even ones are for general candidates.“50% of the total SC seats are reserved for women. The same applied to seats in the general category ,“ said the senior official.

The municipal polls are significant this time as a ma jor third party , AAP, will be contesting for the first time.While the ruling BJP will be fighting to retain its turf, Congress is making a bid to regain lost ground.

After the delimitation work was officially notified in January , it changed the contours and population of municipal wards. Though the total number of municipal wards remains at 272, there is a major change from the current configuration of four wards per assembly constituency to three in many , and seven in one. The average population of each ward has been revised to 60,000 vo ters based on the 2011 census.

Sources in the corporations claimed that the configuration of the new wards after delimitation will impact ticket allocation. Political parties will face a major challenge in the constituencies where the number of wards has gone down from existing four to three as they will have to reorganise their entire block-wise structure.

“This may not go down well with the political parties as they will have to give multiple tickets to SCST candidates in a particular constituency . In some, the number of seats for SCST candidates may remain just one,“ sources said.

The SEC will now have to complete reassigning of polling booths along with demarcation of new boundaries in consultation with the three corporations.

“By next week, we will assign returning officers (RO) for mapping of polling booths. Post delimitation, many polling booths have shifted to a new ward. The work of reassigning polling booths will take nearly four weeks. Simultaneously , ROs will also inform the residents about the newlyassigned polling stations of their wards,“ added the senior official.

The impact of the 2017 reservation on incumbents

AlokKNMishra, Big guns lose wards, unsure of shifting base, Feb 9, 2017: The Times of India

Many big guns turned big losers with the notification of the list of reserved wards on Wednesday .While many of the BJP and Congress stalwarts will be barred from contesting from their strongholds, all seven seats belonging to AAP are out of the reservation list.

Former Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay , councillor of Malviya Nagar, and Safdarjang Enclave's Shailendra Singh Monty will not be able to seek re-election from their current wards as both have been reserved for women. A popular BJP face in the south corporation, Monty claimed he had worked hard to make his ward a better place. Former north corporation mayor Ravindra Gupta's seat, Karol Bagh, and Yogendra Chandolia's Dev Nagar have also met with a similar fate. The former leader of house in the east corporation, B B Tyagi, also can't contest from Kishan Kunj.

The councillors affected by reservation are struggling to figure out their next move. “I am in no mood to contest from another seat, but nobody can defeat BJP here,“ Monty told TOI.

The disappointment extended to the Congress camp as well. Nizamuddin, the ward of Farhad Suri, leader of opposition at the south corporation, has been reserved for women. Suri, also a former mayor, said he might contest from another ward.In the north corporation, wards such as Rani Bagh and Kishan Ganj have been affected, said leader of opposition Mukesh Kumar Goel.

Though hit less than BJP, Congress is also unhappy .“The election commission did not accommodate our suggestions for reservation,“ said Goel. However, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said, “We accept the list and have requested party leaders to find suitable candidates.“ BJP's Ashish Sood said the reservation had comprehensively covered scheduled castes.

Seat change is often not easy for big guns with most banking on personality-based polling in their wards.“Base change creates a lot of bad blood because every seat has strong ticket seekers,“ said a BJP functionary . Powerful male councillors often field women family members to beat the reservation list.

Sources said some of the big leaders might contest from newly created wards in the neighbourhood. While Congress is confi dent about winning the civic polls after 10 years, the ruling BJP hopes to counter the anti-incumbency factor. BJP MLA Vijender Gupta, who was overseeing the delimitation exercise for the party , said it would gain from delimitation as Outer Delhi, where BJP had fared well during the 2013 assembly polls, had seen a sizeable increase in the number of wards.

AAP, which considers the civic polls crucial, is likely to focus on youths. Promising not to field any `dummy' candidate in the women seats, a party member said, “Seats for women were reserved to aid in their empowerment.“