A delegation from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Punjab, led by Ashwani Sharma, MLA and working state President, met with Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to address concerns over the ongoing ward delimitation process for Municipal Corporations and Municipal Councils in the state. The delegation expressed dissatisfaction with the alleged arbitrary and hasty manner in which the delimitation exercise is being conducted, emphasizing the lack of transparency and violation of statutory rules and constitutional principles.
According to the BJP delegation, the current ward delimitation lacks a proper door-to-door population survey, leading to doubts about the accuracy of population figures in the proposed wards. They highlighted issues such as geographically disconnected areas being grouped together without continuity and contiguity, as well as concerns about the misuse of reservation norms, where wards with lower Scheduled Caste and Backward Class populations are reserved while those with higher concentrations are designated as general wards.
The delegation also raised attention to the violation of Census notifications related to the 16th Census of India, which mandate the freezing of municipal and ward boundaries during census operations. Despite these directives, the state government is proceeding with the delimitation process, prompting the BJP to urge the Governor to ensure compliance with census notifications, statutory provisions, and constitutional norms to uphold democratic values and the rights of Punjab’s residents.
