Limitations of delimitation

A flawed exercise

The Government of Karnataka issued a draft notification on June 23, increasing the number of wards of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) from 198 to 243. There was sharp criticism by political parties as well as civil society groups and over 3,800 objections were filed. After considering them, GoK issued a final notification on July 14, changing the names and redrawing boundaries of certain wards but maintaining the final number at 243. This will now form the basis for elections to the BBMP to be held shortly.

Delimitation

One online dictionary defines ‘delimitation’ as “an act, instance or method of fixing the limits or boundaries of something”. Though the word has generic applicability, it is often used in the context of drawing up the boundaries of a constituency ahead of general elections.

Based on Census population data, the boundaries of Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in India are determined by a Delimitation Commission set up by the Government of India under provisions of a Delimitation Act. We have so far had four delimitation exercises -- in 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002 -- under the Delimitation Acts of those years.

The Delimitation Act, 2002, is a relatively short statute of just 12 Sections. Sec. 9, dealing with delimitation, lays down that constituencies must be geographically compact and delimited keeping in view physical features, boundaries of administrative units, communication facilities, and public convenience. Every delimited Assembly constituency must fall wholly within a single parliamentary constituency. It also provides guidance for constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

BBMP Act, 2020

Sec. 7 of the BBMP Act, 2020 deals with delimitation of wards. It stipulates that after delimitation, the population of each ward must be the same and that the wards must lie wholly in one Assembly constituency. It is explained that population, for the purpose of the delimitation, is the “population of the city ascertained by preceding census, of which relevant figures have been published.” It is also laid down that the number of wards into which the Corporation is divided must be between 225 and 250.

Much of the criticism of, and objections to, the recent delimitation of wards in Bengaluru arise from the inadequacies of the legislation underlying BBMP. I will address them one by one.

Population

The BBMP Act came into force on January 11, 2021. It must have been very clear even at that stage that the 2021 Census operations would be badly delayed by the pandemic and relying on 2011 Census data would be hopelessly inadequate. Hence, an alternative must have been provided in the Act itself.

After every Census, a Technical Group under the chairmanship of the Registrar General of India publishes population projections. The Report based on the 2011 Census data was published in July 2020, well before the BBMP Act was passed.

The Report projects the population of Karnataka in 2021 at 66.85 million, and the state’s urban population at 29.34 million. The explanation in Sec. 7 of the BBMP Act could well have referred to this publication and used the projected population of Bengaluru in 2021 given in that official document. By not doing so, the legislature made the delimitation exercise obsolete at inception. Much of the criticism from the public and political parties was directed at this avoidable lapse.

Delimitation Committee

The BBMP Act, 2020 envisages that delimitation will be carried out by an official committee. The members of the committee are, for the most part, serving BBMP officials. They cannot be expected to lay down the criteria for arriving at the number of wards required in the city. Objections to the proposed delimitation are scrutinised by another set of BBMP officials, reinforcing the impression that it is all a non-professional, proforma exercise carried out at the behest of the party in power.

Limit on wards

As delimitation is to be an objective and independent exercise, it does not seem necessary to specify a band for the number of wards. The Delimitation Committee must spell out its own logic for coming up with 243 wards. After the draft notification of wards, some people felt that the city must move towards the number 400, proposed by an official committee. Others suggested that the newly added areas at the periphery need more wards to address their many problems. Clearly, Sec. 7, relating to the number of wards, ought to have been drafted more carefully.

Governance perspective

Delimitation must not be construed as a linear extrapolation based on increasing population. Municipal governance cannot be defined forever only in terms of expanding the roads, drinking water and electricity coverage in the newly added areas. Many of these are often planned and executed at the city or metropolitan level. Hence, more effective systems need to be evolved to ensure last-mile connectivity and service delivery. Finally, a Council with more members than the State Assembly will not lend itself easily to governance through byelaws and regulations. E-governance systems and apps must be deployed to ensure that even people in the peripheral areas access municipal services through the ubiquitous, affordable smartphone.

Delimitation in future

The delimitation exercise of 2022 appears to be a done deed and soon, elections to the BBMP will take place. If future delimitations are to be more purposeful, then the underlying legislation has to be more carefully drafted and not leave the administration with a free hand to do what the political executive bids it to do. A starting point may be an independent, statutory delimitation commission, at least for Bengaluru.

(The writer is a former IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre)