Kerala assembly passes ward delimitation bill in five minutes

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The agenda was to pass the politically crucial ward delimitation bill in five minutes, present it in the Legislative Assembly and leave it to the subject committee. While the opposition was creating a ruckus in the assembly over the emergency resolution related to the bar bribery allegations, speaker A.N.Shamseer announced that the ward bill would be passed without discussion and without leaving it to the subject committee.

Minister for Local Self-Governments M B Rajesh introduced the bill which was passed by a voice vote. Opposition leader V.D. Satheesan gave a letter objecting to the Speaker's action.

The government first brought an ordinance last month, but Governor Arif Mohammad Khan sent it back due to the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections.

The amendment to the law is to complete the ward division of the local bodies in three stages ahead of the local elections to be held next year. First, the boundaries of wards will be rearranged in 941 gram panchayats, 86 municipalities and six corporations. In the second phase, the wards will be reorganized into 152 block panchayats and the final phase in the district panchayats.

Based on the 2001 census, a complete ward division was done in 2010. The reorganization will be in 21,865 wards of 1119 local bodies except Mattanur.

If the governor approves the bill, the state election commissioner will be made the chairman of a delimitation commission consisting of four government secretaries. The action will incur an additional cost of 67 crore rupees for five years.