The state election commission will conduct a delimitation exercise in the Calcutta civic area and redraw the city’s ward map based on population, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation headquarters on Monday.
The exercise could lead to several densely populated wards being split into smaller units. Whether the number of wards will increase remains to be seen.
Suvendu was at the KMC to launch a cleanliness drive, Swachhta Se Swagat.
He said the BJP government would not extend the tenure of administrators currently heading civic bodies. At least 15 civic bodies in the state are currently being run by administrators — bureaucrats appointed by the state government — after their elected boards were dissolved.
“We will undertake a delimitation of wards and hand over charge to a new board within six months, by December 7,” Suvendu said.
KMC administrator Smita Pandey took charge on June 8. Her six-month tenure will end on December 7. Administrators are usually appointed for six months.
“The state election commission will conduct the delimitation. The state government recommends it,” Suvendu said.
The Bhabanipur MLA said the distribution of voters across wards was uneven, with some wards having as many as 50,000 voters and others around 20,000. “I found that the number of voters varies drastically from one ward to another. There are 47 booths in Ward 77 (parts of Kidderpore). In many other wards, there are fewer than 20 booths. Ward 82 (Chetla) is also a large ward. Tapas Ray, Agnimitra Paul, Swapan Dasgupta and I believe that delimitation is necessary,” he said.
Ray is the BJP MLA from Maniktala, Dasgupta represents Rashbehari and Paul, an MLA from Asansol, is a Calcutta resident.
Suvendu said his government was “forced to appoint” an administrator at the KMC because Trinamool could not choose one of its members as mayor after Firhad Hakim resigned on June 5.
“Those who were in the majority (in the KMC) had the opportunity to select a mayor. If they cannot arrive at a consensus, if all of them want to be mayor, we cannot be held responsible,” Suvendu said.
“After the mayor resigned, a crisis emerged. We extended an invitation to form an elected board within three days, as per law. The party that was in the majority failed to do so. The state government was forced to appoint an administrator on June 8,” Suvendu said.
Cleanliness drive Swachhta Se Swagat will run from Monday to Saturday as a build-up to International Yoga Day, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Calcutta.
Other municipalities
Besides the KMC, administrators are also heading the municipal corporations in Bidhannagar and Howrah. IAS officer Ravi Agarwal, commissioner of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, was appointed administrator on June 6.
The situation in the Howrah Municipal Corporation is different. Elections were not held after the tenure of its last board ended in 2018. Trinamool leaders were appointed administrators by the Mamata Banerjee government. The BJP government has appointed a government officer as administrator.
On Monday, Suvendu asked urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul to “provide special attention” to the civic bodies of Calcutta, Howrah and Bidhannagar.
Certificates
Suvendu also announced that all MLAs had been empowered to sign certificates that councillors previously signed. With the dissolution of boards in many municipalities and municipal corporations, councillors have also ceased to hold office.
Several Trinamool MLAs and councillors attended Suvendu’s programme. There were also many who have hobnobbed with a rebel camp since the poll results. Among those present were Hakim, former minister Javed Khan, MP Mala Roy, Mamata’s sister-in-law and former councillor Kajari Banerjee, and former MLA Debashis Kumar.