Kolkata’s proposed expansion from 144 municipal wards to 209 has come under challenge in the Calcutta High Court, putting the delimitation exercise and its timing ahead of the civic elections under judicial scrutiny.
A city resident moved the court on Monday alleging that the proposed addition of 65 wards was being carried out in an unscientific manner and without following the prescribed legal procedure. The petitioner’s lawyer, Shamim Ahmed, sought permission to file the petition before a vacation bench, arguing that the delimitation process had not complied with due process.
Justice Aryak Dutt granted permission for the petition to be filed. Ahmed said the matter was likely to be taken up before the vacation bench of Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya on Wednesday. The report did not specify the relief sought beyond the challenge to the procedure followed for redrawing the municipal wards.
The proposed Kolkata ward expansion is linked to the state government’s plan to complete delimitation before the next Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections, which are expected to be held in November. The exercise would be the first redrawing of KMC ward boundaries since 1984, making it a significant change to the city’s municipal electoral map.
In August, the state government’s Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department issued a notice stating that the final list of newly constituted wards would be published after the relevant provision of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, was amended. The notice forms part of the administrative process required to create the additional wards and publish their final boundaries.
The proposed change would alter the way Kolkata’s residents are grouped into municipal constituencies and how local representation is organised across the city. Ward delimitation also determines the geographic boundaries within which councillors are elected and municipal administration is structured, although the supplied report does not provide details of the proposed boundaries, population distribution or the criteria used to create the additional wards.
The legal challenge comes while the city is operating under an administrator-run arrangement. The state government aims to complete the redrawing of boundaries before the civic election process begins, with a new municipal board expected to take charge before the current arrangement ends on December 7.
The timing of the court proceedings could therefore affect the administrative schedule for finalising the ward list and preparing for the elections. The immediate issue before the court is whether the petition can proceed and whether the delimitation exercise followed the legal process alleged by the petitioner to be mandatory.
The next reported milestone is the likely hearing before the vacation bench on Wednesday. The court’s consideration of the petition will determine the next stage of the challenge to the proposed increase in Kolkata’s municipal wards.
