Kolkata: Political parties were not consulted while redrawing the boundaries of KMC wards and delimitation was an “unscientific” exercise, the opposition said on Friday while governing BJP said it had little to worry about whether the polls were held now or later.A BJP neta said Calcutta High Court’s order restraining the KMC polls till a petition challenging delimitation was decided was “in the nature of an interim order”.Mamata Trinamool’s Baiswanor Chattopadhyaysaid the urban development department conducted the delimitation exercise in a manner that was targeted at benefitting BJP. “Govt raised the number of wards from 144 to 209 but all wards do not have an office of KMC’s health department or solid waste management department. The entire thing was done in haste,” he said.But state industry minister and BJP senior Tapas Roymaintained that the party could say little about a court order. “Calcutta High Court has given its observation. We do not have any problem, whether the elections take place now or later. People of Kolkata will pick a mayor from BJP. They want a BJP-run board at KMC,” he said.Congress has written to the Bengal CEO, SEC and KMC commissioner alleging that revised ward boundary maps shown to them during delimitation hearings were different from the map shown later during hearings for the draft voters’ list.“None of the objections raised by us during delimitation hearings were factored in. We never got to know govt’s response to our objections,” Bengal Pradesh Congress general secretary Ashutosh Chatterjee said.Civic services are meant for all, said CPM senior Subrata Dutta. “How could KMC redraw ward boundaries in 2026, based on 2011 population data, while a Census is underway? Delimitation should have been conducted only after an updated population count was available in 2027,” he said.KMC sources said the delimitation exercise began with the aim of having parity in the number of voters in all wards but was finally done based on population.Opposition netas said in some cases, railway tracks had voters of the same ward on both sides, removing an age-old practice of having a railway track as a boundary between two wards. In some places, narrow 3ft lanes were used to bifurcate wards, one of the issues on which the opposition raised objections.BJP state committee member Sisir Bajoria said opposition parties were not prepared for KMC polls. “The HC has sent the matter to a single bench and did not say delimitation was illegal or did not strike it down. Due process has been followed,” he said.Sandipan Saha of Democratic TMC, led by Ritabrata Banerjee, said a delay in elections will mean that “common people will suffer”.
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