KMC headquarters KMC Building ———- Suparna Goswami
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s delimitation exercise, which will add 56 more wards to its existing 144, will limit the number of voters to 16,000-18,000 in each ward. Speaking to reporters on Monday after the KMC formed a 10-member Central Delimitation Committee (CDC) to submit its proposal by July 27, Municipal Commissioner Smita Pandey said, “Currently, we have wards with up to 85,000 registered voters compared to others with just 10,000 voters. CM Suvendu Adhikari announced on June 15 that KMC elections would be held within six months of the delimitation exercise, alongside polls to other civic bodies, including the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC).
“The purpose is to ensure that wards are more evenly balanced in terms of voters and population, while also keeping each ward geographically contiguous,” the official explained. A KMC official said the committee would need not only to revise ward-wise areas but also bring parity regarding the number of voters. We need to reduce this gap as far as practicable. The delimitation exercise will attempt to redraw and reorganise the boundaries of existing municipal wards in a scientific and rational manner. Adhikari stated that while the KMC would continue to function under an administrator until the elections are held, this arrangement would not continue indefinitely. He pointed out that the law requires an election within six months, asserting that his govt would follow a transparent process.