The delimitation of BBMP wards is being initiated ahead of the civic polls scheduled this year. On March 2, the Urban Development Department (UDD) notified the draft BBMP delimitation proposal in the gazette. With delimitation, ward boundaries will be redrawn so that the population of each ward will be nearly equal, at 42,645 on average.

Objections/suggestions to this notification, can be submitted, along with with reasons, in writing to the Deputy Commissioner, Bengaluru Urban District, Bengaluru, by 16 March 2020.

The idea behind delimitation is to reduce the huge disparity in population among wards. Currently the population in outer wards is much higher than that of wards in core areas; hence the former are not adequately represented in the Council and don’t get sufficient budget allocation.

The delimitation draft proposes to introduce 29 new wards, and to remove an equivalent number of  existing wards. The total number of wards will remain the same at 198. However, the new wards will remain within the boundaries of the same assembly constituency. The draft had been jointly prepared by the BBMP and Bengaluru Urban district administration. 

Wards that will be removed and created, constituency-wise

Why delimitation now?

The delimitation of BBMP wards is to be done every 10 years due to the city’s increasing population. The previous delimitation exercise was done in 2010, based on 2001 Census data. In 2001, Bengaluru’s population was 58.4 lakh, and the average ward population was 29,496.

But in the 2011 Census, the total population had grown to 84.43 lakh (an increase of nearly 45%), and correspondingly, the average ward population increased to 42,645. The increase in population was particularly high in the assembly constituencies in outer areas – Yeshwanthapura (162%) followed by Bengaluru South (156%), Mahadevapura (140.2%), Bommanahalli (128.9%) and Byatarayanapura (127.6%).

Core areas like Shivajinagar and Chickpet witnessed population dip by 3.5% and 3.3% respectively. However, population did grow in some core areas like Malleshwaram (1.1%), Gandhi Nagar (1.4%), Rajaji Nagar (3%) and Shanthinagar (3.5%).

Ward numbers will increase in outer areas, decrease in core areas

With delimitation, outer areas of the city will get more wards whereas core areas will lose one or more wards. BBMP currently has about 132 wards in core areas and 66 wards in outer areas. It estimates that the number of wards in core areas should be reduced to 115, and those in outer areas increased to 83. The wards will be merged or split within the same constituency.

As per the draft delimitation proposal, assembly constituencies in core areas, like Shivaji Nagar, Rajaji Nagar, Chamrajpet, Jayanagar and Chickpet – all of which now have seven wards each – will lose two wards as these will be merged with their neighbouring wards. Malleshwaram (7 wards), BTM Layout (8), Hebbala (8), Pulikeshinagar (7), Shanthi Nagar (7), Gandhi Nagar (7) and Govindraja Nagar (9), will lose one ward each. 

Assembly constituencies in outer areas like K R Puram (9 wards), Byatarayanapura (7), Yeshwanthapura (5), RR Nagar (9), Dasarahalli (8), Mahadevapura (8) and Bommanahalli (8) will gain two wards each. Sarvajna Nagar (8) will get one fresh ward within its boundary, and Bengaluru South (7) will get three new wards.

Ward numbers in the remaining six constituencies in the city – Mahalakshmi Layout (7 wards), Yelahanka (4), Vijay Nagar (8) Basavanagudi (6), CV Raman Nagar (7) and Padmanabha Nagar (8) – will remain the same. But the names of some of the wards in these constituencies will be changed, and their boundaries too changed to some extent.

For example, in Yelahanka constituency, Attur ward will be replaced with the new ward ‘Bettahalli’. Mahalakshmi Layout ward will be replaced by ‘Nagapura’, in Mahalakshmi Layout constituency. And in Padmanabha Nagar constituency, Ganesh Mandira ward will be replaced by ‘Dharmagiri Sri Manjunatha Swamy Temple ward’.

However, the entire process for the final notification of the draft would take at least two months after the deadline for submitting public objections. Speaking to Citizen Matters, BBMP Chief B H Anil Kumar said, “The final approval would take two months’ time which means, till June. The UDD will notify it once it is approved,” he said.