'Ward Redivision ordinance'; special cabinet meeting on Monday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who returned from a 12-day foreign tour on Saturday morning, will participate in a special cabinet meeting that will be held online at 9:30 am on Monday. The meeting was decided to be held online due to the unavailability of many ministers.

The main agenda in Monday's cabinet meeting is to pass the Ward Redivision Ordinance, which aims to increase one ward in each local body. Gram panchayats have one ward per 1000 people.

In the regular cabinet meeting to be held on the 22nd, the commencement of the assembly session will be recommended.

Due to the increase in population, ward restructuring is being brought in haste by the government. A minimum of 13 wards have been allotted in small gram panchayats and a maximum of 23 wards in large panchayats. This will change to 14 to 24 with reassessment. There are 21,865 representatives in 1200 local bodies of the state. After the completion of ward re-division, there will be an additional 1200 representatives in the elections to be held in October 2025.