To
The State Election Commissioner,
State Election Commission (SEC), Delhi,
New Delhi.
Sub.: MCD Ward Delimitation - Death Knell for Planned Developed Colonies
Sir,
At the outset I wish state that SEC’s Ad. Does not give E-Mail Id for filing of Suggestions, also the ‘Principles of Delimitation’ as posted on the website have not been followed properly:-
A. Maps of newly demarcated Constituencies have not been posted for citizens to see if Clauses 2 and 3 of ‘Principles of Delimitation’ have been followed.
B. Contiguous Areas of a colony have been randomly placed and in no specific order making it difficult to spot Omissions and Commissions.
C. NEHRU PLACE - We notice Part of Nehru Place is in Greater Kailash Ward 086-S and a part that was earlier in Ward 192 (GK) has been placed in Kalkaji Ward 090-S both now under two separate Assembly Constituencies.
D. SHAHPUR JAT – a small section of 347 votes of Shahpur Jat has been placed in Chiraag Dilli, while the Major part has been shifted to GK.
E. EAST of KAILASH - Various areas and Blocks of East of Kailash are listed under three Constituencies ie. GK, Srinivas Puri and Kalkaji spreading across two separate Assembly Constituencies.
F. FINALLY: The question is, why have all attempts to streamline MCD come to naught? Doubling of Councillors and Delimitation in 2007 and Trifurcation of MCD in 2012 ...... were experiments carried out to achieve a POLITICAL STRANGLEHOLD RATHER THAN TO ACHIEVE EFFICIENCY.
The latest attempt at Delimitation of MCD Wards on the basis of Population is again aimed at Political Hold over the most Vulnerable section. No one is against development of deprived sections of the city but tilting the balance of Political Power on the basis of Population alone will create animosity amongst fellow citizens.
TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE NO SOCIAL / FINANCIAL AUDIT HAS EVER BEEN CARRIED OUT TO FIND OUT THE OUTCOME OF ALL PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS MENTIONED ABOVE ...... WE NEED ANSWERS.
1. CONTENTION: Issue of Bogus / Dual Voters is unresolved.
SOLUTION: Delimitation should be put on HOLD till EC convinces Citizens that there are no Bogus / Dual Voters. (Copy of Full CIC Order dated 13-01-15 to an RTI attached) ...... Extract ...... “Appellant said that because of criterion that MP or Councillor’s recommendation substituting the proof of residence, there are huge number of bogus votes in Delhi constituency which has capacity of rendering the whole process of elections in Delhi into a farce. The Election officers are trying to delay and deny the information instead of providing as he sought for. When an affidavit by elected members of Parliament or Municipal Councillors could be the basis of giving a voter card, what action the government would take in case one single person getting more than one voter card? He said that answers to his questions would lead to detection of bogus voters and their elimination, which is highly essential to protect public interest and democratic process.
The Commission finds huge public interest in the appellant’s RTI application which should have been answered long ago. It is surprising that the First Appellate Authority issued such an order as if it was without application of mind. In the context of the admission about mistakes and huge bogus votes in Delhi by Chief Electoral Officer of National Capital in a PIL before Delhi High Court, the problem appears to be more serious and complex. It is shocking to know that there are 58000 cases of wrong photo image, including that of a film star on a common man’s voter card, an in-depth inquiry into residential addresses with MP recommendation criterion might reveal more bogus votes. As there is a possibility of correction of voters list, the Commission recommends the respondent authority to examine the issue raised by the appellant and if that could be used to detect the bogus voter cards, such an initiative should be adopted immediately ....... “
The Commission finds huge public interest in the appellant’s RTI application which should have been answered long ago. It is surprising that the First Appellate Authority issued such an order as if it was without application of mind. In the context of the admission about mistakes and huge bogus votes in Delhi by Chief Electoral Officer of National Capital in a PIL before Delhi High Court, the problem appears to be more serious and complex. It is shocking to know that there are 58000 cases of wrong photo image, including that of a film star on a common man’s voter card, an in-depth inquiry into residential addresses with MP recommendation criterion might reveal more bogus votes. As there is a possibility of correction of voters list, the Commission recommends the respondent authority to examine the issue raised by the appellant and if that could be used to detect the bogus voter cards, such an initiative should be adopted immediately ....... “
2. CONTENTION: The status of Unauthorised Colonies and Encroachments on Public Land is Subjudice / Undetermined.
SOLUTION: Delimitation should be put on HOLD till the Status is Cleared by Supreme Court.
3. CONTENTION: Exponential Population Growth in some wards is not Natural and has A SKEWED MALE/FEMALE SEX RATIO.(Population chart attached)
SOLUTION: Investigate presence of large number of migrants who have obtained Voter Cards in Delhi while they continue to Vote in Native State/Panchayat Elections. A Panchayat / BPL / Ration Card is a Valid Identity Document in other states. The Law is clear that no citizen can Vote in two parts of a country. Start Awareness Drive and Prosecute those having Dual Domicile. Link all Voter I Cards to Adhaar to weed out Duplicate/Bogus Voters.
4. CONTENTION: MPD-2021 places a Legal Bar on number of Dwelling Units, Building Bye Laws prevent exponential growth in PLANNED DEVELOPED COLONIES, while there are NO SUCH CONTROLS over Villages / Unauthorised Colonies / JJ Clusters etc. where each floor has many small ill-lit rooms with no control on number of occupiers or dwelling units, far exceeding MPD provisions.
SOLUTION: Stop exploitation of Migrants for Vote Banks and CREATE LAWS FOR THEM TO AVAIL OF VARIOUS WELFARE PROGRAMMES, without being forced into seeking Duplicate Voter Cards. (Introduce Green Card Concept)
5. CONTENTION: Illogical Population Criteria for Delimitation, while increasing Geographical Spread.
SOLUTION: A balance of Geographical Spread, Population, Tax Collection, Infrastructure requirement etc must all be given due weightage. Democracy does not mean Majoritarianism, if the same formula were to be applied in Assam / West Bengal / Bihar / UP etc, then many High Density Areas would get many more MLA Wards ....... if such Delimitation is not acceptable there, then why such need in Municipal Wards.
6. CONTENTION: Populism and Discriminatory deployment of funds will be the net outcome of Population Based Delimitation. The Ministers, Mayor, Chairmen of Committees etc will now be from areas with more Councillors. Areas with SIX COUNCILLORS WILL GET DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF LAD FUNDS. Larger Geographical spread requires more funds due to Longer/Wider Road Network, Larger Parks, more Street lights, larger surface area for Sanitation, larger Network of Drains for desilting etc and such areas pay higher Taxes.
SOLUTION: Wide discussion with RWAs, Sociologists and Weeding out Dual Voters must be ensured before delimitation. Due weightage must be given to other factors and not just Population.
7. CONTENTION: Discriminatory towards Law Abiding Tax Payers in Planned Developed Colonies who are already disillusioned with Vote Bank Politics.
SOLUTION: Create Constituencies that balance Equitable Social Development, by ensuring franchise to Genuine Stake Holders and not freebees seeking Captive Bogus Voters.
CHETNA (NGO) and the Undersigned had earlier filed a PIL to end Boothwise declaration of election results, so that absolute secrecy of Vote is maintained to AVOID EXPLOITATION OF POOR AND RICH ALIKE (Law Commission has now cleared the proposal for future Elections). That is when we had discovered many loopholes in the process of making Voter Cards for Political Stranglehold.
These are preliminary submissions, I request you to give an opportunity to elaborate in person along with fellow activists so that our concerns are suitably addressed.
Warm Regards,
Rajiv Kakria
Social Activist
