AAP delegation meets SEC

New Delhi: The delimitation exercise seems politically motivated and the variation of population sizes is a huge concern. How can there be wards with a population of 30,000 & 90,000 at the same time? Many localities have been turned into isolated-islands, said AAP MCD in-charge and MLA Durgesh Pathak on Thursday after an AAP delegation met with the State Election Commission regarding the recently conducted MCD delimitation exercise.

Along with Pathak, the delegation which consisted of AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj and Azadpur Mandi Chairman Adil Khan reached the SEC premises to submit a representation in this regard.

The delegation amplified the grievances of the people of Delhi with respect to the report which mainly revolved around altering of demographics due to disparity of population and wards with large population being susceptible to misgovernance & poor development.

The letter written by the AAP to the committee further states, "The committee has disturbed most of the wards in most assembly constituencies without changing the number of wards in Assembly Constituencies. Certain areas have been moved from one ward into another ward; the Delimitation Committee has to tell the rationale behind this move to the people of Delhi. Disadvantaged wards of the lower income groups pushed further into the dark by increasing their population sizes; elite and richer wards handpicked for smaller population sizes."

Pathak said, "Today, we met the Delimitation Committee which is conducting the delimitation exercise in Delhi, post which MCD elections will take place. We submitted feedback on the first draft of the delimitation report. We had two major concerns on the recommendations of the committee. Firstly, as per report, some of the newly created wards will have a population around 90-95 thousand while the others will only have a population of 30 thousand. Every ward gets the same amount of funds and this will create a problem in governing wards with a large population. We suggested that every ward should have a uniform population so that the elected councillors are best placed to serve the citizens of their constituency."

He further added, "Secondly, they have created island type of areas which are completely cut off from their main wards and landlocked by another ward from all directions. There are also some discrepancies related to the names of the wards as well. We have submitted comprehensive feedback to the Committee. We have also appealed from the State Election Commission to conduct MCD elections at the earliest. People of Delhi are extremely fed up with the BJP. They have turned Delhi into a city of garbage. You will find garbage littering on every street, in every corner across Delhi. Delhiites want to be free of the corrupt administration of BJP in MCD."