Delimitation of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation wards may upset political equations

AMIM, Cong To Be Hit As Core City Likely To Have Fewer Divisions
The delimitation of wards in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is likely to change the political scenario in the city. After the delimitation process, the number of wards in the core city area (erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad) is likely to be cut down by about 20 to 25, while more wards are expected to be added to the surrounding areas of the city , especially the erstwhile surrounding municipalities.

As of now, there are 150 wards in GHMC (100 in core city and 50 in surrounding areas) and after delimitation, the total number is likely to go up to 172. The Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department issued a GO last week directing GHMC to begin delimitation of wards as per Census 2011 following the directions of AP high court. The court directed that GHMC polls should be conducted only after delimitation process as per 2011 census.


Official sources said the total number of wards in the core city is likely to be reduced to 80 from 100 and surrounding wards increased to 80-90 from 50.

The revision of wards in the core city is likely to affect the strength of parties in the coming municipal elections as some parties have been enjoying considerable strength only in the core city.

Both Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and Congress have been sharing power in the municipal corpora tion since 2009. MIM won 43 seats in the 2009 GHMC polls and all the wards it won are located in the core city , especially in Old City . Even its ally Congress, which bagged 52 seats, won most of them from the core city.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) secured 45 seats and most of them were from the surrounding areas of the city .The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) emerged as a force in Greater Hyderabad by securing some seats in the city and also its surrounding areas. Similarly , the BJP has also proved its base in the city .

The GHMC population as per 2011 census is 67,31,790. As per government guidelines for fixing the strength of the corporation, there should be 143 elected members for a population of 50 lakh and for every additional population of 60,000, there should be one additional elected member. Going by this formula, officials arrived at the figure of 172.

In 2009, 150 wards were fixed for a population of 54 lakh and 36,000 voters for each ward, based on the 2001 census. But there were allegations that the exercise was not done properly as some wards have a population up to 40,000, while some others have less than 30,000.

Wards such as Borabanda, Jambagh, Gowlipura, Uppal, Attapur, Erragadda, Riyasatnagar, Talabchanchalam and Somajiguda have a population of about 40,000 each, while Sultan Bazar, Baghlingamapally, Adikmet, Hydernagar and Bansilalpet have 39,000. Jubilee Hills has 27,000 and Dabeerpura 28,000 voters.