Kolkata: Over 25 objections have been filed against KMC reserved wards, which the state has earmarked in a draft list ahead of civic elections, tentatively slated for the last week of Nov. Wednesday was the deadline to file claims and objections with the South 24 Parganas district magistrate, who published the draft list.Opposition parties objected to the way the draft list of reserved wards was published without the KMC or govt responding to their claims and objections filed during the delimitation hearings.“More than 25 objections have been filed by individuals and political parties. The South 24 Parganas DM will hold a hearing on Saturday and publish the final list on Oct 6,” said a state official. He said the total number of electors in the KMC polls, along with the notification for nominations, were likely to be published in end-Oct or early-Nov. Now run by an administrator, KMC is supposed to get an elected board by Dec 7.Of the 74 reserved seats on the draft list, 12 seats have been earmarked for Scheduled Caste candidates, four of them women. Sixty-two seats have been reserved for women candidates in the general category. No seat has been reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, given the low number. “The seats were reserved based on 2011 census data, when a little over 5% of Kolkata’s population were SC,” the official said.
