The Urban Development Department has notified the final notification of the delimited 243 wards of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday night.
The UDD had notified a draft of delimited wards on June 23, increasing the number of wards from 198 to 243, and had given 15 days time to file objections. While the earlier wards had huge disparity with a population in the range of 28,000 to 1 lakh, the new wards have an average population of 34,700. However, the delimitation exercise has come under criticism for being outdated on arrival as it is based on the 2011 Census.
The draft received 3,833 objections, a majority of them on names of wards, said Chief Civic Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath. “A sub-committee led by Special Commissioner Deepak R.L. looked into all the objections and submitted a report to the State government, which has now notified the final delimitation of wards,” he said.
The government has been working to keep the eight weeks commitment it gave to the Supreme Court to complete delimitation of wards and fixing the reservation roster to hold the much delayed civic polls. Supreme Court had set an eight-week deadline on May 20 and seven weeks are already over. Justice Bhaktavatsalam Committee studying OBC representation is also likely submit its report to the government soon, sources said.
However, sources said the MLAs of the city, cutting across party lines, are not keen to hold civic polls so close to the Assembly polls scheduled for April-May 2023, and are looking at ways to derail the polls. Opposition Congress has termed the delimitation politically biased to BJP and has threatened to challenge the delimitation legally if their objections are not factored in and suitable corrections made.
