The State government bid to delimit the wards of local self-government institutions before the next general civic elections in haste is likely to trigger a legal row.
Local Self-Government Department sources told The Hindu here on Friday that the government had set in motion the process of redrawing the boundaries of urban and rural civic bodies and as a preliminary step on that score a committee of the United Democratic Front (UDF) headed by Indian Union Muslim League leader K.P.A. Majeed had sought time for discussions with the State Election Commission on May 14. This move is being pointed out as a deviation from the recommendations of the fourth State Finance Commission which have been accepted by the UDF government.
The commission headed by economist M.A. Oommen had on May 21, 2012, recommended that delimitation should be done only once in 20 years as frequent structural changes in civic body segments would destroy the identity of the critical form of participatory governance, the ward and grama sabhas. The Cabinet had accepted the recommendation on May 21, 2012 and the Local Administration Principal Secretary issued an order on September 27, 2012.
Prof. Oommen had also recommended that the rotation of reservation wards should be done only once in 10 years and the process should begin at least one year before the elections to motivate the performance of elected representatives and also to ensure equity and increase their accountability.
Government roleThough wards are delimited by a commission chaired by the State Election Commissioner, the government performs certain crucial functions as a facilitator. The onus for fixing the strength of voters in each ward and conversion of a panchayat into municipality and municipality into corporation are all determined by the government. The commission generally works on the framework prepared by the government.
The UDF committee is understood to have favoured the adoption of photo voters list of the Central Election Commission and use of electronic voting machines for the civic elections. The State Election Commission has already completed the electoral roll adoption in Karakulam and Pothencode grama panchayats in the capital.
