Kolkata, July 15 -- The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has begun field-level surveys as part of the process to redraw ward boundaries ahead of the upcoming civic polls, with officials starting the exercise in selected boroughs across the city.
On the first day, survey teams visited areas falling under the Cossipore-Belgachia, Maniktala, Shyampukur and Jadavpur Assembly constituencies. Apart from collecting ground-level information on population distribution, officials are also verifying the existing ward boundaries that may require changes during the delimitation exercise.
A Central Delimitation Committee has been constituted to oversee the process and ensure that the city continues to have 200 municipal wards while making necessary adjustments to their geographical limits.
The committee has also been tasked with balancing the number of voters across wards to reduce large disparities in electorate size.
According to civic officials, the target is to keep the number of electors in each ward broadly within the 16,000-18,000 range, although limited deviations may be allowed where local conditions warrant. The exercise has been initiated following the state government's decision to undertake ward delimitation before holding the municipal elections scheduled later this year.
Officials said demographic changes over the past decade have made the revision necessary. While several north Kolkata neighbourhoods have recorded stagnant or declining population growth, the EM Bypass corridor and parts of south Kolkata have witnessed rapid urban expansion driven by new housing projects and commercial development.
The civic body aims to complete the preliminary survey in all 16 boroughs by the end of July. A draft delimitation report is expected to be submitted to the state Urban Development department by July 31 after the field verification is completed.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.