State EC to convene all-party meeting tomorrow ahead of MCD polls

Ahead of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, Delhi State Election Commission convened an all-party meeting on Monday.

This meeting will be held at the Nigam Bhawan, Kashmere Gate.

Delhi State Election on Friday announced the schedule for MCD elections.

MCD elections will be held on December 4 while the counting of votes will be done on December 7.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, the Delhi State Election Commissioner Commissioner Vijay Dev said that the Model code of conduct has been implemented in Delhi from November 4.

"The issue of notification will be on November 7 and will end on November 14. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is November 19. Voting for the polls will be on December 4 and the results will be announced on December 7," Vijay Dev had said.

Vijay Dev said that the delimitation process in Delhi has been completed and polling stations have been redrawn.

"Now we are prepared for 250 wards in Delhi. The municipal corporation of Delhi has jurisdiction in 68 constituencies. 42 seats are reserved for SCs," he said.

The state election commission also announced the number of seats reserved for the scheduled caste women and women of the general category.

"Out of those 42 seats for SC, 21 seats will be for SC women. 104 seats will be reserved for women," said Vijay Dev.

The total number of civic body poll wards in the national capital was reduced from 272 to 250 following a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday pertaining to the redrawing of wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

After the 'delimitation' of MCD wards by the central government, the total number of wards in the MCD will amount to 250 of which 42 are decided to be reserved.

Earlier, the Delhi Congress had questioned the reduction of wards from 272 to 250. The Delhi Congress had also alleged a conspiracy to reduce the representation of the Dalit community in this regard, as the reserved seats have been reduced from 46 to 42.

Notably, AAP Delhi raised concerns that there is no equal distribution of population in the delimitation of wards. Aam Aadmi Party leaders had also lodged their objection by meeting the state election officials.

It is worth mentioning that the draft of the delimitation was prepared on September 12 itself and it was reviewed till October 3.