KMC receives 300 suggestions, objections
Ashok Sinha, special coordinator of BJP’s legal cell, said the party objected to the way old Ward 28 was split and merged with minority-dominated wards. Nandita Ray, former councillor of Ward 103, said parts 159 and 186 were missing from the new ward-wise list.
“The gazette notification said wards would be divided based on population but the revision was carried out, based on voter strength. Pointing out that parts in Kasba Assembly constituency were merged with Entally, he said, “KMC has no power to do it. “It was changed, but the map still shows the error,” he said. “The old Ward 103 is now Ward 158 but the two parts are not there,” she said. A KMC official said all recognised political parties, barring two, submitted their objections.
Representatives of Trinamool, Congress, Left and BJP attended Saturday’s hearings. As objections were filed separately, multiple representatives from the same party could be called. Trinamool functionary Baiswanor Chattopadhyay, a Mamata Banerjee loyalist, alleged political agenda in the delimitation. When we raised this point, the hearing officers had no answer,” he claimed. Kasba MLA Javed Khan , who is on the Ritabrata Banerjee camp of Trinamool, made a similar allegation. Assembly delimitation can be done only by the EC. Besides, the map has multiple errors. The state Pradesh Congress committee general secretary Asutosh Chatterjee alleged the revision was aimed at reducing the size and strength of minority-dominated wards.