Request for delimitation of GHMC wards

M Padmanabha Reddy, secretary, Forum For Good Governance (FFGG), requested the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Somesh Kumar to take up delimitation and reservation of the civic body’s wards according to the 2011 census data. He appealed Somesh Kumar to send a report to the State Election Commission (SEC) at least three months ahead of the polls, scheduled to be held in November. “GHMC’s current term would end in November. The previous election, held in 2009, was conducted based on census data from 2001.

The SEC, unlike the Election Commission of India, has no powers of delimitation. Under Sec 8 (1) of the GHMC Act, 1955, the delimitation of wards is within the exclusive statutory domain of state government. It has to complete the delimitation of wards and reservation of seats under the GHMC at least three months before the expiry of the term and communicate it to SEC,” said Padmanabha Reddy.

“The delimitation process in 2009 was defective and arbitrary. In 2009, the population of GHMC was 54,11,550. When divided into 150 wards, the average population per ward should be 36,077. But in practice, there is a huge variation. For example ward number 109 in Jubilee Hills has a population of 27,094 where as ward number 105 in Banjara Hills has a population of 53,197,” claimed the organisation.