THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday gave his assent to the Kerala Municipality (Amendment) Bill 2020 and the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2020, to increase one ward in each local body in
proportion to the population.
The legislation was passed recently by the assembly. Earlier, the Governor had refused to give assent to the amendments when it came before him in the form of an Ordinance. This had prompted the government to enact a legislation. Though the government had concerns whether the Governor would once again raise objections to the bill, such a scenario did not arise.
At present, the boundaries of local bodies have been fixed in accordance with the 2001 census. The government intends to carry out fresh delimitation based on the 2011 census. At present, a panchayat has a minimum of 13 wards and a maximum of 23 wards. In municipalities, the minimum and maximum wards are between 25 and 52. In corporations, the minmum number of wards are 55 and the maximum is 100. Â
Though only one ward is increased as part of new law, the boundaries of all wards will be affected. The panel is tasked with carrying out the delimitation and the process would take five months.
The final delimitation is carried out after complaints against the exercise are resolved. The Finance Commission had earlier recommended that delimitation exercise should be carried out a year before local body polls. The Opposition is against the amendments on the grounds that delimitation should not be carried out once fresh census work begins.