The delimitation has altered the ward-wise composition of Puducherry and Oulgaret municipalities.
As per the latest delimitation exercise, the number of wards in Puducherry municipality has come down from 42 to 33 while it has spiked from 37 to 42 in Oulgaret municipality. The reversal of the ward position was as per the change in size of population in both the municipalities since the 2001 and 2011 census.
According to the 2011 census, the Puducherry municipality has a population of 2,44,377 and Oulgaret a population of 3,00,104. As per the strength of Scheduled Caste population in both the municipalities four seats each will be reserved for scheduled caste population. Similarly two seats each will have to be set aside for SC candidates in Karaikal and Yanam municipalities.
The cabinet decision on May 25, 2018, to provide 33. 5 per cent reservation for backward classes will pave for allotting 11 seats in Puducherry and 14 in Oulgaret municipalities for the community. While six seats will be reserved for BC in Karaikal, there will be three reserved in Mahe and five in Yanam.
Of the 116 seats in four municipalities together, 52 seats will be reserved for SC and BC communities.
As 33 per cent of seats has to be allotted for women, nine wards in Puducherry and 12 wards in Oulgaret will be reserved for women candidates. This will be apart from the two seats each reserved for SC women in both the municipalities. A total of 40 wards will be reserved for women in the four municipalities, said a government official.
The government had issued a notification two days ago providing reservation for BC for the first time in the local body elections. The cabinet took the decision to provide reservation to BC community following a direction from the Supreme Court.
The court had asked the government to fix the quota as the Pondicherry Municipalities Act, 1973, and Pondicherry Village and Commune Panchayats Act, 1973, were silent on the reservation for backward classes. The Act had only provision for providing reservation but was not mandatory, said a government official.
The issue of notification pertaining to delimitation and reservation would soon pave for holding the local body elections after a gap of eight years. The local body elections have a chequered history in the Union Territory. Elections were held in 2006 after a gap of 36 years following the intervention of the Madras High Court. After the tenure of the local body representatives ended in 2011, the government did not hold elections for the first six months when the rule prescribes an uninterrupted tenure for local bodies.
As a year passed, the government decided to hold the elections based on 2001 census when the 2011 census figures were out. Objecting to the move, a petition was filed by activists in the Madras High Court resulting in the more realistic delimitation exercise.
