Mohali delimitation board meets tomorrow

Tribune News Service

Mohali, August 30

Councillors across the political parties in Mohali will look forward to the delimitation board meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday as the steam gathers for the upcoming Mohali Municipal Corporation elections.

The meeting, which was earlier scheduled for August 24, will now be held on September 1.

The delimitation, if happens, is likely to affect the composition of the electorate due to the redrawing of the boundaries of wards. Depending on the party affiliation, opinions are divided on the whole exercise of delimitation.

Some of the councillors feel that whatever be the proceedings of the meeting, the hearing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the matter related to the readjustment of wards of the Zirakpur Municipal Council will have a bearing in Mohali too.

On August 12, the court had directed that final notification in the matter of delimitation be kept in abeyance. The next hearing in the matter is on September 3.

Former Congress councillor Kuljeet Singh Bedi said, “I don’t think it will have any impact on delimitation of wards in Mohali as it’s a municipal corporation, while Zirakpur is a municipal council.”

Bedi, one of the board members, said, “It is the first meeting. All members will put forward their views and see what the report says. We are in no hurry.”

Former Deputy Mayor Manjit Singh Sethi has asked the authorities to find out the date when the door-to-door survey regarding delimitation began and when it was completed. Through an RTI filed recently, he has asked for a copy of all registers maintained for this survey.

Even as the delimitation of wards is yet to be finalised and the date of the elections is yet to be announced, all candidates in the fray are virtually canvassing with full gusto.

“The canvassing for the elections begins much earlier than the schedule is announced. Every candidate is chalking out his or her strategy. There is no harm in starting early,” said a former councillor.