Seven wards have been reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates in the delimitation process for the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) elections due in December this year. Of these three will be reserved for SC women, to be decided through a draw of lots, likely in April, after receiving approval from the Election Commission.
The total number of wards remain – and the areas falling under them – remain unchanged at 35.
The wards reserved for SC candidates include Ward 1, 3, 4, 9, 15, 29 and 32, all of which are currently held by general category candidates. The decision to reserve these seats has been taken on the basis of the SC population in these wards, as per the 2011 Census. Chandigarh’s total population stands at 10.55 lakh, of which the SC population makes for about 18%.
The reservation has already triggered intense political debates across party lines as the sitting councillors – and others hailing from the general category and routinely fighting on these seats – will now have to explore other wards to fight the December elections.
For gender balance
As many as nine wards will be reserved for women from the general category. The wards will be selected from the remaining 28 wards through a separate draw of lots. In the 2021 MC elections, Wards 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 18, 22 and 23 were reserved for women.
Colonies removed from ward lists
The administration has also removed several unauthorised colonies—Sanjay Colony, Janta Colony, Shahpur Colony, Adarsh Colony and the furniture market in Sector 53—from the ward rolls. These colonies were located on government land and have since been demolished. Voters from these areas have been shifted to other locations, and their votes deleted. Earlier, these areas formed part of Wards 16, 24, 25 and 26.
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