Kolkata: The very objective of KMC delimitation that each ward should have 12,000 to 18,000 voters has apparently not been met at some wards. The first electoral draft roll following delimitation, an exercise that has increased the number of Kolkata wards from 144 to 209, shows that at least eight wards have 20,000 or more voters and 12 fewer than 10,000 voters. When the redrawing of KMC ward boundaries began in July, state as well as civic officials had said delimitation would bring parity among all places. But an analysis of the draft roll revealed that over 20 wards have more than 18,000 voters, while 25 wards have fewer than 12,000 voters. For example, 28,000 voters are listed in Ward 66 but only 5,682 in Ward 57.“The revision of ward boundaries has been a partisan exercise. It has been done to benefit the BJP, to ensure they win maximum number of seats,” said Subrata Dutta, CPM’s Kolkata district secretariat member. Dutta said the revised Ward 66, which has the maximum number of voters among all the 209 wards, is a minority-dominated area. “Three booths from old Ward 63 have been merged with this ward to ensure the new ward created by removing those three booths have fewer minority community population,” he said. Ward 57 is part of Burrabazar and the old ward number was 45.Dutta added that the Left Front flagged the issue during the hearings for delimitation at KMC. “None of the objections we raised was considered,” he said. After hard copies of the draft electoral roll for the KMC election were handed over to political parties on Tuesday, CPM analysed the roll and collated the numbers.Echoing Dutta, Ashutosh Chatterjee, general secretary of Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, said his party, too, highlighted the discrepancies but their concerns were also brushed aside. Opposition parties also questioned the reason behind the state not waiting for the ongoing census report, slated to be published next year, before redrawing KMC’s ward boundaries.A KMC official claimed to TOI that while the revision of ward boundaries started with the aim of bringing parity in voter strength among all wards, it was finally conducted based on population. TOI triedto contact BJP’s Ritesh Tiwari but he did not respond to calls and messages.
