New Delhi, Mar 9 (PTI) With the State Election Commission deferring the announcement of Delhi civic body poll dates, experts said the polls need not necessarily be postponed for six months if the Centre makes an amendment to the DMC Act at the earliest for unifying the three municipalities.
Former chairman of the Unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi and an expert on such matters, Jagdish Mamgai said there are speculations that MCD elections will be postponed for six months if civic bodies are re-unified, “but this is not necessarily the case”.
“The Parliament session is underway so if the central government wants, it can withdraw the line from the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 that there will be three municipalities. Instead, the Centre will just have to mention in the Act that there will be only one MCD, which was the case earlier,” Mamgai told PTI.
He, however, added that there was no need to postpone the announcement of election dates as elections could have been wrapped up before May 18 even after unification, if the Centre wanted.
Mamgai said that two months are enough to conduct elections even after unification of civic bodies.
“It will take only a few days for the Centre to make the amendments to the Act. Then the State Election Commission can wrap up other exercises like reservation and de-reservation of wards within a fortnight. Later, polls can be conducted by announcing a schedule by May 18,” Mamgai said.
The State Election Commission on Wednesday said the central government plans to bring a Bill in the Budget session of Parliament to unify the three municipal corporations of Delhi and since the poll panel is examining the communication from Lt Governor Anil Baijal, it has decided to defer the announcement of election schedule of the civic body.
“The Commission has received a communication from Lt Governor conveying Government of India’s intention to bring legislation in the on-going session (of Parliament) for unification of the three municipal corporations. The Commission is examining the said communication and hence has decided to announce the election schedule later,” the SEC said in a statement.
The SEC in its statement also said that it has sufficient time to conduct civic elections before the expiry of the term on May 18 as the election process normally takes only about 30 days.
Another expert and former commissioner of the unified MCD, KS Mehra said the central government can certainly re-unify the three civic bodies in Delhi and conduct elections.
“They just have to bring an amendment bill in the Budget session of Parliament and reverse the existing conditions in the DMC Act, 1957,” Mehra said.
He also said that the unification of the three civic bodies will “certainly” benefit municipalities as it will consolidate the earnings and bring down the expenditure. PTI AKM CK
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