Delimitation: Grama panchayats, municipalities and corporations to be covered in Phase I

The Delimitation Commission headed by State Election Commissioner A. Shajahan approved the guidelines on Tuesday

The delimitation of local body wards will take place in three phases, as per the guidelines for the mammoth exercise finalised by the State Delimitation Commission. Grama panchayats, municipalities and corporations will be covered in the first phase, block panchayats in the second and district panchayats in the third.

The commission headed by State Election Commissioner A. Shajahan, which approved the guidelines on Tuesday, will publish the draft report on the first stage on November 16. Complaints regarding the draft will be accepted from that date till December 1.

The borders of all the local bodies will be redrawn as part of the delimitation exercise. The draft reports are prepared and submitted to the commission by the District Collectors.

In line with the amendments to the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and the Kerala Municipality Act, grama and block panchayats will have a minimum of 14 and maximum of 24 wards. In ths district panchayats, this is respectively 17 and 33, and the municipalities, 26 and 53. Corporations will have a minimum of 56 and maximum of 101 wards.

The State government has issued notifications earlier this month increasing the total number of local body wards in Kerala from 21,900 to 23,612. The revision was based on the 2011 census. As per this decision, the number of wards in 87 municipalities will go up from 3,113 to 3,241, that of the six Corporations from 414 to 421, and that of the 941 grama panchayats from 15,962 to 17,337. In the 152 block panchayats, the number will go up from 2,080 to 2,267, and in the 14 district panchayats, from 331 to 346.

The guidelines will be published on the following websites: www.lsgkerala.gov.in, www.sec.kerala.gov.in, www.prd.kerala.gov.in, www.kerala.gov.in.

The State government issued a notification constituting the Delimitation Commission for redrawing the boundaries of local body wards in June this year.

Published - September 24, 2024 06:50 pm IST