GHMC wards to be redesignated on basis of caste
Reservations for over 30 per cent of wards in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) are to be changed for the upcoming polls in January. The GHMC has 150 wards.
According to GHMC officials, reservations for all categories including Scheduled Tribes (STs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Backward Classes (BCs) and women will be changed on the basis of their population in the wards.
This has made many of the corporators and aspirants nervous. They fear that their divisions would be reserved and they may not get a chance to contest. Most corporators belonging to all parties have begun staying away from developmental activities and charity programmes despite their respective leaderships asking them to hit the streets in the run-up to the polls.
The parties will also need to redraw their plans in terms of fielding candidates. Some fancied aspirants may lose out if their wards are reserved. The reservations would be based on the BC voters in the ward, according to the voters list. The corporation has the caste-wise voters list that was prepared during the Lok
Sabha elections in 2019. It will be updated and published in January.
The population figures will be taken from the 2011 Census and the subsequent annual revisions. In the 2016 GHMC polls, the state government had reserved 10 wards for Scheduled Castes (SCs), two wards for STs and 50 for BCs, totalling 62. In each of these categories, half the wards were reserved for women. Besides, 44 wards were set aside women in the general category and 44 were left unreserved.
Taken together, 75 of the 150 divisions were reserved for women. This may also be revised.
This apart, there is confusion prevailing on the mayor, which was initially reserved for a woman from the BC category. Sources said that the new Municipal Act, which specifies this, cannot be implemented due to certain provisions in the GHMC Act.
According to the GHMC Act, the mayor’s post will be given out on rotation based on the updated population census. The new Municipal Act says that out of all mayors in the state, including the GHMC, 50 per cent will be reserved for STs, SCs and BCs. Of this number, half will be reserved for women belonging to these categories.