Bye-polls to wards will delay delimitation process, HC told

The State Election Commission today assured the Delhi High Court that it can hold the bye-election to 13 municipal wards of the national capital but then the delimitation exercise initiated last month would be delayed.
"The Commission assures that it will hold bye-elections to the 13 wards and also conduct delimitation of wards simultaneously though the latter may be delayed...," the Delhi State Election Commission said in its affidavit.
The affidavit filed by advocate Sumeet Pushkarna said that the process of delimitation of wards for entire Delhi has commenced and it is mandatory for the next upcoming municipal general elections to be held in April 2017 and any delay to the delimitation process will affect the process of preparation and conduct of the civic bodies polls.

"...On September 18, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi assigned the work of delimitation of wards to the respondent (State Election Commission). It is pertinent to mention that under provisions of section 3 of the DMC Act, as amended, the wards of all the three corporations have to be delimited on the basis of Census 2011 as the next general election to these corporations would compulsorily be held on the basis of newly- delimited wards," the Commission said.
It also cited the limited number of staff, familiar with the delimitation and election works at the Commission, and said that attending both the work simultaneously might not be possible.

The Commission further said that the coming delimitation of wards shall change the boundaries of the wards and even the status of the wards that is the category for which it would be reserved.

The Commission's affidavit was filed in response to a 20-year-old law student Sanjana Gahlot's PIL on bad civic condition in her village, which said that drain water was overflowing on all streets and filth was spread everywhere with the entire village suffering from foul smell.
Seven wards in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, four in North and two in the East are currently without councillors.
The State Election Commission further said that if the

bye-elections are held, then the newly-elected councillors will have very little time to establish themselves in the wards, to gain reputation for coming general elections due in April 2017, and may have to incur large expenditure on the polls.
"...They may not even be able to contest general election due to the changes in the boundaries of the ward, where he had worked, and change of reservation status of the ward in which categories cannot be anticipated at this initial stage," the Commission said.
On November 2, the AAP government had claimed that it is for the Delhi Election Commission to take a final decision on holding of by-elections in the 13 municipal wards of the national capital.

The Commission had sought a direction to provide requisite funds and resources to conduct elections to vacant seats in 13 municipal wards, out of the total 272 wards in all three municipal corporations in Delhi.
On the ongoing issue, an impleadment application was filed jointly by the leaders of opposition (LoPs) in the municipal corporations--Farhad Suri of South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Mukesh Goel of North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Varyam Kaur of East Delhi Municipal Corporation which has been opposed by the Delhi government.
The LoPs have stated in their application that the absence of councillors was a major setback to civic, sanitary and other development works.