BBMP gets bigger with 198 wards

BBMP gets bigger with 198 wards
Poll Will Be Held Before End Of July
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Greater Bangalore will now be represented by a bigger political class — almost as strong as the assembly. The Karnataka cabinet announced on Friday that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike will now consist of 198 wards. And the election of these new corporators will be held before the end of July.
The enhanced size of the civic set-up reflects the city’s crying need for infrastructure thanks to its expansive growth. “The increase in the number of wards will help in better governance,” rural development and panchayat raj minister Shobha Karandlaje emphasized at a press conference. Earlier, each ward constituted a population of 40,000, but now it will cater to 30,000 in core areas and 20,000 in other areas.
Apart from the 198 corporators, the council takes in the nominated corporators, city MLAs, MLCs and MPs which adds up to 268 members. Apart from the 198 corporators, are 20 nominated corporators (constituting 10% of the elected seats), 27 MLAs, 11 MLCs, 12 MPs (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha). All members of the council have voting rights.
Civic analysts see the move as a “political strategy’’ to garner BJP seats and take control of the civic body. “Now each assembly segment will have about 8 wards under it. The BJP believes it has a strong base in the city and can hope to get more wards under its belt,” says an observer. Yet, simply the expansion can be seen as necessary to develop peripheral areas. “The idea is to have more number of wards in the outer areas. They are mostly the village pockets need a lot of attention,” says an official.
All this of course, will mean the government is faced with a mammoth task in the already delayed elections to the civic body. The process is expected to take a little over a month.
Shobha Karandlaje said since the present laws don’t permit the use of Electronic Voting Machines in BBMP polls, the cabinet had decided to promulgate an ordinance to use EVMs during BBMP polls. The cabinet decision will require another amendment to the KMC Act as it has provision only for 150 wards. The state is likely to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Act. Redrawn in tune with the delimitation of assembly constituencies — 27 segments fall under BBMP limits — the process is based on the 2001 census taking a population of 58,40,155 into consideration. A total of 349 wards will be incorporated to divide 740 sq km into 198 wards.
MORE CORPORATORS, MORE SPACE
Anticipating an increase in number of wards, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has already begun work on upgrading its council hall. Friday’s cabinet decision to increase the number of wards to 198 from the earlier notified 147 means making additional seating arrangements in the hall.
THEN AND NOW
The delimitation for 147 wards took a year. The then deputy commissioner of Bangalore Urban, M A Sadiq used GIS maps of 211 sq km of old BMP area with 43.13 lakh population, and 500 sq km of CMCs, TMC and villages with 15 lakh population, to redraw the wards. The average population per ward was 40,277, the highest being 47,000 and lowest 30,000. The exercise to increase the number of wards to 198 will take at least a month.
The bandwidth of population per ward will be 24,000 to 36,000. Outer wards will have lesser population of around 25,000.
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Seating arrangements to be made for 220 seats for corporators. Also space in galleries for officials, media and visitors
The exercise to divide the city into 198 wards will take a month
A fresh draft notification will have to be put out giving 2 weeks to 30 days for objections from citizens.
Publication of final notification
Notification of reservation rota
Voter list upgradation (at least 4-5 weeks)