The State government is set to promulgate an Ordinance for conducting local body elections without delimiting wards. The proposal comes in the wake of the COVID-19 threat and the entire government machinery getting focussed on virus containment measures.
Earlier, a decision was made to add one ward to each local body and skip a full-scale delimitation, mainly due to financial and time constraints.
A delimitation commission comprising secretaries was to take up the task and complete it within a specific time well ahead of the elections due in October. But the virus outbreak has upset all such plans.
Local governments are playing a pivotal role in containment, especially contact tracing, surveillance of those who have been quarantined and also managing the community kitchens opened for various sections in their ambit. Even execution of Plan projects have been deferred to channelise the might and resources of local bodies for aiding the virus control activities of the government.
Poll roll verification
Taking forward the poll roll verification and allied activities of delimitation has become well nigh impossible for local body secretaries who are fully involved in such activities and hence the decision.
But the government is bound to discharge the constitutional responsibility of holding the elections in October so that the newly elected governing bodies would assume office before November 11.
Hence, the only option left is to conduct the elections on the basis of the existing wards. Since the legal process has already been set in motion and the delimitation procedures had been progressing as per schedule till the virus outbreak, the government would have to promulgate an Ordinance specifying that it would shelved due to the contingency.
The government is learnt to have conducted high-level consultations before deciding to shelve the delimitation process.
The previous delimitation held in 2015 had covered only about 10% of the local bodies and the exercise was largely confined to the panchayats that were carved out either through merger or redrawing of boundaries.
A final decision on promulgating the Ordinance would be made within the next two days, sources said.
